Written by Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.com
Former NFL receiver Davone Bess was arrested early Monday in Gilbert, Arizona after fleeing a traffic stop, refusing to exit his car, entering his home, and refusing to come out. The police have released troubling details regarding the incident.
“A Gilbert patrol officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a silver Mercedes driving without the headlights on,” a press release from the Gilbert police department explains. “The vehicle pulled into a parking lot of a sporting goods store but continued driving slowly through the lot and would not stop for the officer. The driver, later identified as Davone Bess, then rolled down his window and began making gestures with his hand shaped like a gun and motioning that he was shooting the officer. The officer gave him numerous commands to stop the vehicle and exit, however he continued to ignore the commands. Bess then removed his shirt and continued with the hand gestures. He then left in the parking lot in the vehicle at a high rate of speed, nearly colliding with another occupied vehicle.”
Police began to pursue Bess but stopped “for public safety reasons.” Officers then went to his home address and waited for Bess.
“A few minutes later Bess arrived in the vehicle and parked in front of his residence,” the press release states. “Officers attempted to make contact with Bess but he remained in his vehicle with the music turned up. He barricaded himself in the vehicle and visually displayed a knife to the officers. A short time later Bess exited the vehicle and walked into the residence ignoring commands from the officers. While inside the residence Bess would stand at the front window and door holding a knife and on occasion he would put the knife to his throat. He would not respond to officers commands. Officers continued to negotiate with Bess for several hours to have him exit the residence. During this time family members inside the residence exited and also waited for Bess to come out.”
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