Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman was suspended from the team Thursday after being arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault and hit and run.
Coleman, 24, was arrested Wednesday evening after being involved in a two-car accident in Bellevue. Coleman, who fled the scene, is being investigated for vehicular assault and hit and run, both of which are felonies. He was booked into the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle at 1:20 a.m. Thursday morning and was denied bail.
The Seahawks released a statement Thursday morning stating that Coleman, who is in his fourth season with the team, had been suspended indefinitely pending further information.
Bellevue Chief of Police Steve Mylett said during a press conference Thursday afternoon that the incident took place at approximately 6:20 p.m. Wednesday evening on the 13600 block of SE 36th Street. Witnesses said Coleman’s Dodge Ram pickup was traveling at a high rate of speed — the speed limit on the street is 35 mph — when it rear-ended a Honda Civic. The collision caused both vehicles to be pushed onto an embankment, with the Civic coming to rest upside down on the embankment and the Ram coming to rest on its side in the road.
The male driver of the Civic was transported to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Coleman told police he was uninjured.
Witnesses said Coleman fled the scene of the accident. He was found minutes later standing by the side of the road two blocks away. Coleman was approached by an officer, detained and returned to the scene, where he was positively identified by three different witnesses. Mylett said Coleman was cooperative.
Mylett said he did not know why Coleman fled the scene, but that he would seek that information upon further questioning.
A K-9 unit was brought to the scene, and the dog was able to follow the scent from inside Coleman’s vehicle to the police vehicle in which Coleman had been seated two blocks away.
A drug recognition expert was called to the scene and field sobriety tests were conducted on Coleman. The police subsequently obtained a search warrant for a sample of Coleman’s blood to determine if alcohol or drugs played a role in the incident. No information was provided on results from tests on Coleman’s blood.
Mylett said the police are in the process of obtaining a search warrant for Coleman’s vehicle to determine whether there is any other evidence that alcohol or drugs were involved in the accident.
Mylett said the investigation is ongoing and could take several weeks. As of Thursday afternoon it was believed Coleman was still in custody at the King County Corrections Facility.
Coleman’s agents, Derrick Fox and Mark Bloom, issued the following statement Thursday morning:
“On the evening of October 15, 2015, Seattle Seahawk Fullback Derrick Coleman, Jr. was involved in a two-car collision soon after leaving a team meeting. While the facts of the case are still being determined, it seems Derrick may have fallen asleep while driving home from a Seahawks’ facility.
“The health and well-being of all involved is our primary concern, and we are thankful to report that both parties are expected to make a full recovery. We will continue to work closely with the local officials while a full investigation is being conducted.”
Mylett did not comment when asked to respond to Coleman’s agents’ claim that Coleman may have been asleep at the wheel.
Coleman was signed by the Seahawks in 2012 after he was cut by the Minnesota Vikings. The 6-foot, 233-pounder, an undrafted free agent from UCLA, spent all of 2012 on Seattle’s practice squad before becoming a full-time member of the roster in 2013, making his name primarily as a special teams player. In 2013 he appeared in 12 games, including three starts, then last season he played in Seattle’s first five games before suffering a broken foot during pregame warm-ups at St. Louis on Oct. 19, missing the rest of the season.
This season Coleman played in each of Seattle’s first five games, starting two. He carried the ball once for two yards and caught one pass for no gain.
Coleman also gained notoriety for becoming the first legally deaf offensive player to appear in the NFL. He authored a book that was published in June titled No Excuses: Growing Up Deaf and Achieving My Super Bowl Dreams, which chronicles his battles with his hearing impairment.
With Coleman suspended, Seattle has only one fullback on the roster, that being Will Tukuafu. Coleman will not count against the Seahawks’ 53-man roster during his suspension.
Extra points
The Seahawks re-signed wide receiver B.J. Daniels on Thursday. Daniels was waived Tuesday as Seattle created space on the 53-man roster for cornerback Crezdon Butler and linebacker Nick Moody. Daniels cleared waivers, then was re-signed to fill the roster spot that opened up because of Coleman’s suspension. … Seattle also signed linebackers Tyrell Adams and Eric Pinkins to its practice squad. Both Adams, an undrafted rookie out of West Georgia, and Pinkins, a sixth-round pick by Seattle in the 2014 draft from San Diego State, spent training camp and the preseason with the Seahawks before being cut just before the season began. Adams was subsequently signed to Kansas City’s practice squad, but then waived Tuesday. Pinkins had been on Seattle’s practice squad before being released to make room for cornerback George Farmer on Sept. 22.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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