Former UNLV, NFL player arrested after hit-and-run in Las Vegas
Retired NFL linebacker Adam Seward was arrested early Tuesday in Las Vegas in connection with a hit-and-run crash, jail and court records show.
A fresh blood trail helped Las Vegas police officers identify and locate Seward after the crash, which occurred around 11:40 p.m. Monday near Sahara Avenue and Town Center Drive, according to his arrest report.
Seward, 38, played for the Carolina Panthers from 2005 to 2008 and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009. Prior to the NFL, he played for the UNLV Rebels.
He faces a felony charge of failure to stop at the scene of a crash, court records show, as well as misdemeanor charges of failure to maintain lane and speeding.
Seward’s attorney, Josh Tomsheck, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday that his client left the site of the single-vehicle crash and “immediately drove the alleged victim to the nearest hospital at her request.”
“Thereafter,” Tomsheck added, “Mr. Seward cooperated with law enforcement in their investigation. We trust the legal process to do its job and look forward to the full facts and circumstances of this incident coming to light through the court system.”
On the night of the crash, a witness called 911 and reported seeing a Jeep hit a pole in the area before taking off south on Town Center. According to the report, the witness followed the Jeep, which eventually parked in a private driveway behind a nearby middle school.
When Las Vegas police arrived at the middle school, they found an unoccupied Jeep “with major damage” and “a large amount of blood” on the passenger side.
“The blood was on the seat, the seatbelt, as well as the on the door panels,” an officer wrote in the arrest report. “It was also smeared as if someone was helped across the center console and out the driver side of the vehicle.”
Officers followed a blood trail from the Jeep to a nearby apartment complex, where, according to the report, they found the driver.
“You guys are here for me,” the driver told officers, the report states. “My Jeep is on the other street.”
Once in custody, according to the report, the driver told police that he had lost control of his Jeep while trying to make a left turn from Sahara onto Town Center. After the crash, he said, he drove toward his apartment but only made it to the private driveway near the middle school.
From there, according to the report, he and his passenger — a woman he had met earlier that evening — walked to his other car in the apartment complex, leaving behind a trail of blood.
The man drove the woman to Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center. Police said she suffered “severe head and face injuries” and was later transferred to University Medical Center.
“Seward stated he knew he should have waited for police on scene,” the report states.
Court records show that Seward has been released from custody on his own recognizance under the condition that he does not drive “until further order of the court.”
According to the records, Seward does not have a criminal history in Clark County.
He had not been formally charged in connection with the crash as of Friday. A status hearing in the case is set for May 12.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
