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
That’s definitely the case with a lot of people.
It’s trendy to pretend to hate cops these days though,and people with no integrity always trend hop.
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
It was in the car in plain view,don’t need a warrant
If the gun is plainly visible to the officer, they can seize it without a warrant, as long as they are legally allowed to be in the position to see it.
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).
Again, they had probable cause to search the car. That’s why he’s being charged with obstruction.
The group was obviously stopped for a reason but it doesn’t seem to say what that reason was.
That’s what I’m saying-I’d like to know what the probable cause was. For instance, in my state, that gun being improperly stored is not probable cause on its own. Having the keys make it seem like the driver was identified, and the group interfering in such a way would certainly be an obstruction.
The question I have-and the reason that I am not forming an opinion on the charge-is what California and/or San Francisco has on improper storage or possession. I imagine it’s much tougher than ours’ has become where I am. You can’t really determine probable cause without knowing the elements of the statute and/or ordinance involved, so that’s just where I’m at. Not in a way to second guess, just to evaluate.
NYG, leaving a gun in plain sight in a car is hardly being responsible, even if the car s locked. The most common place that a gun is stolen from is a car. I don’t let my girlfriend leave her purse or laptop out in plain sight; doing so with a gun is the height of irresponsibility. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s illegal to do so in CA, but again I’m not a lawyer or a PO.
Absolutely- no argument there. To be honest I’m not a “gun guy” I think we need real regulations around gun ownership and use but that’s a different topic for a different site. Visible or not it was locked, in a private vehicle. Safer and more responsible then carrying it on your hip in a city as crowded as LA.
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.
Who cares what the cops wanted. There is an extremely low bar to clear to qualify a situation where the police officer is lawfully entitled to certain property searches, even comes with a paper trail from the reports filed afterwards. If you know for certain this procedure was followed, good on you and please shed more light on the situation. Otherwise with the details presented in the story above, a cop can ask to see something, and you can say no. A crime has to occur for obstruction to have taken place. And if that crime doesn’t exist, and you’ve detained and charged someone for obstruction, you are depriving them of their liberty by doing so.
The group was clearly stopped for a reason.
Obviously none of us know what that reason is.
But if they were innocent and legally in the right, they wouldn’t be doing childish things like tossing keys around.
Lol. Random word generator????
A crime does not have to occur. It’s an investigation to see if there is a crime. Illegal guns are a big deal, espcially in areas where there are alot of shootings. And yeah, you have to comply and cooperate. You lost me when you said who cares what cops think. That’s a really narcissistic attitude, and defending their juvenile and immature actions is scary. Dont leave your day job to become a lawyer.
Juvenile and immature ≠ illegal. And yes a crime does have to occur, otherwise what justice are you obstructing? There are no “maybe” crimes that meet the threshold of obstruction. If him or no one else in that group is not charged with any additional crime, obstruction of what exactly occurred? Don’t be dense. I’m very open to more information indicating that obstruction occurred, but currently not meeting that bar. Stop following your hunches and follow the law.
If these men or that gun were suspected of being involved in crime, paperwork exists to show why. Such and such shooting or robbery or suspects. You can’t just investigate whatever you feel like, you have to have a reason. And again that’s an extremely easy threshold to cross for a police officer.
Like I said. Don’t quit your day job to become a lawyer. He was arrested for obstruction. It was legal arrest. He deserved it. Act like an idiot when cops are around and bad things happen.
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.
If the NFL didn’t have King Roger, can you imagine how many more NFL players would have been locked up over the years? There only fear is losing game checks and roster spots.
Very true. I don’t like him necessarily but you can’t tell me his bringing real consequences for off field behavior hasn’t worked.
We don’t know if it was his car or gun. Why is he a hood rat?
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
I doubt it considering how small of an incident it is.
He was just practicing his laterals like coach asked.
I’m still trying to pronounce first name
Arrested for playing keep-away with the cops…
I remember playing keep away when I was 7-8 years old.