
Ex-NFL player and Super Bowl winner Derrick Ward was arrested in Los Angeles. He is presently being held on a $250,000 bond.
Ward has been accused of carrying out multiple robberies across the city of Los Angeles.
Several establishments, including gas stations, were allegedly robbed recently by the 43-year-old Los Angeles resident. Law enforcement officials say that Ward robbed the establishments using force and intimidation, even though he did not brandish a firearm during the heists.
At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Ward was apprehended and booked into custody. His booking details list him as 6 feet tall and 230 pounds. Ward, selected in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft, played football for eight years. He was a member of the New York Jets, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans. He played a vital role in the New York Giants’ 2007 Super Bowl victory against Tom Brady and the Patriots, who finished the season unbeaten.
With 93 games played in the NFL, Ward rushed for 2,628 yards on 551 attempts and scored 15 touchdowns (12 on the ground).
Online court records indicate that Ward, the star running back for the Super Bowl-victorious New York Giants, is facing five counts of second-degree robbery in Southern California. He was placed in Van Nuys’s Valley Jail.
The Kansas native, Ward, played college football at Fresno State and Ottawa University before being drafted by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft.
Along with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, he formed a formidable trio at running back for the New York Giants for five seasons. They were dubbed “Earth, Wind and Fire” by the public.
After rushing for over a thousand yards and leading the league in yards per attempt (5.6) in 2008 with the Giants, Ward joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009. In his last two seasons, 2010 and 2011, he was a member of the Houston Texans. After a long career in the NFL, he decided to hang up his spikes in 2012.
Since his NFL departure, Ward has had his fair share of legal issues. Some years ago, the ex-husband was also accused of violently beating and threatening to murder his ex-wife.