49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday, as detailed by NBC Bay Area. He was booked for obstruction of justice and has since been released. 
Los Angeles police stopped a group (including Lenoir) on Thursday and noticed a gun inside a parked car. When police requested the keys to the car, one of the suspects in the case threw them to Lenoir who kept them from the officers on scene. Lenoir then threw the keys to a third suspect, resulting in his arrest.
“We are aware of the matter involving Deommodore Lenoir and are in the process of gathering further information,” the 49ers said in a statement (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area).
The NFL has yet to issue a statement on the matter, which marks the first known off-the-field issue in Lenoir’s career. The 25-year-old has been with San Francisco for each of his four NFL seasons, establishing himself as a full-time starter in the secondary. Lenoir has totaled five interceptions and 19 pass deflections over the past two seasons, production which helped make him a priority for the 49ers regarding their young core.
The former fifth-rounder agreed to a five-year, $89.5MM extension in November, and as a result he is under contract through 2029. Lenoir will be expected to remain a key member of the 49ers’ defense – a unit which has undergone a number of changes recently – this season and beyond. His availability for the start of the season could now be in jeopardy depending on how this case plays out, though.
Resisting arrest is such a bs charge. It’s what the cops always charge without anything real.
Glorified hall monitors, straight up losers
Totally agree, one shouldn’t be charged with resisting arrest without other changes as well
Resisting arrest is different than obstruction.
He wasn’t arrested for resisting. He was arrested for obstruction. Sounds like you wouldn’t last 5 minutes with a badge and a gun dealing with the general public. You can’t even get your charges correct lol
It’s my understanding that – if there wasnt a warrant he’s not compelled to open a locked anything. If it’s locked away, what’s the issue here?
Genuinely open to a discussion on this before this dives head first into some political battle
I wouldn’t consider a gun in plain sight in a locked car to be “locked away”. Nor would I consider this to be a search of his car because, again, the gun is out in the open for anyone to see.
However, I have no legal experience, in Cali or anywhere else.
Fair – I’m not a lawyer, I’m not in California. To me if the car is locked it’s just as sufficient as a glovebox being locked
If officers see something they suspect might be illegal, that’s probable cause to search.
Correct. Plain view is one of the exceptions to the search warrant requirement.
That’s true, it is, but I’m curious as to what the restrictions are on gun storage in California and/or San Francisco. Did law enforcement identify the owner of the car? Was that owner present there and told to store it differently and/or face a charge if he/she refused? Was that owner arrested, and was that the basis for the obstruction charges on the others?
I don’t know enough about the applicable laws in the situation to identify the basis of this interaction, and I don’t know enough about the incident to make a judgement on my opinion, but it’s definitely odd. There’s got to be an underlying crime that was being investigated here, and I don’t know enough to say what that was or what law enforcement’s level of authority would be to demand the keys. Lenoir’s actions certainly kept police from doing what they wanted to do, I just don’t know if that was something they were beholden to do. In my state, seeing a gun laying out in the open is not an element of any crime anymore (as of last year) due to a change in carry laws, so we don’t have plain view probable cause anymore for that without some other accompanying circumstance (say, a unlawful possessor being the driver or having constructive possession or something like that).
If obstruction of justice is the charge for arrest, and eventually no crime is prosecuted, deprivation of liberty should be punitively defaulted onto the arresting entity.
Meaning
You better have something concrete and actionable to be putting someone in cuffs and disrupting their day. Otherwise pay a penalty.
It reeks like a bureaucratic nuisance administered to the tax paying public.
There’s a gun in a car. This fool had the keys and tossed them to someone else when cops wanted the keys. That’s very clearly obstruction.
Lol, I do appreciate that they basically attempted to play keep-away with the officer. You should be rewarded for that kind of creativity, not punished.
The police get no training on how to open a locked vehicle? I think even Barney Fife could accomplish that 🙂
The guy disobeyed a lawful order given by a police officer who was conducting a lawful investigation of a firearm observed in a vehicle. Another example of a hood rat failing to follow basic directions given by a police officer who is doing his job. He will plead to a misdemeanor and pay a fine, as long as the weapon was lawfully purchased, etc. and hopefully the knucklehead learns a valuable lesson on how to act. I hope King Roger suspends him for atleast one game for embarrassing his team and the league for his poor judgement.
Nobody has embarrassed the league or shown more poor judgement than King Roger. He should hand himself an indefinite suspension.
As a lifelong gun user and hunter this kinda stuff annoys the bejeezuz out of me. How hard is it to not be an idiot with your gun? Not hard. Put it in the glovebox and no one sees it and there is no issue. Unfortunately a lot of the time people want other people to see the gun. Even if the cops were being nosy (surprise surprise) there wouldn’t be an issue if you weren’t an idiot.
Can they void his contract now?
Wishful thinking of course