Ex-NFL star Lynch asleep in car before arrest – police

Former Seattle Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch was asleep in the driver’s seat of a damaged car when he was arrested early Tuesday in Las Vegas, a police report released Thursday said.

One Las Vegas police officer reported “a strong odor of an alcohol beverage emitting from the vehicle, his person, and his breath along with bloodshot, watery eyes.”

Lynch told police he wasn’t drinking and doesn’t do drugs but that he stole the vehicle, the report said.

Lynch was taken into custody under suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into the Las Vegas City Jail.

Lynch’s lawyers, Richard A. Schonfeld and David Z. Chesnoff, told celebrity news outlet TMZ that Lynch “was not pulled over for a DUI. Rather the vehicle was safely parked and not in operation.

“We are confident that when all evidence is presented, this will not be a DUI under Nevada law,” they said.

Photos of the scene showed the car involved was missing the tire on the driver’s side front wheel with the rear wheel on the same side also damaged.

The police report said the vehicle was in “undriveable condition” and that officers found marks on the road that indicated it had “hit sidewalk areas.”

Lynch, the popular running back whose tackle-breaking rushing prowess earned him the nickname “Beast Mode,” spent much of his NFL career with the Seahawks, retiring after the 2019 season having rushed for 10,413 yards and 85 touchdowns.