Tre Mason arrested on felony fleeing charge for incident in July
Tre Mason, the Rams running back who never reported to the team this past season, was arrested Tuesday morning in Florida for a fleeing incident dating back to July, according to records obtained from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Mason spent less than an hour in county jail before being released on $5,000 bond. He faces a felony (third degree) charge of fleeing and eluding without regard for others' safety or property. A Rams spokesman and Mason's agent, Bus Cook, did not respond to initial requests for comment.
Mason was at a park on the afternoon of July 27 allegedly doing wheelies on an ATV. When police tried to stop him, Mason sped past them and fled to his mother's home in Lake Worth, Florida. Law-enforcement officials followed Mason to the home and cited him for operating an ATV on public roads and failing to stop for police. A dash-cam video posted by TMZ recorded Mason's mom, Tina, telling responding officers that her son is "22 in a 10-year-old's mindset right now."
"Tre is not himself at all," Mason's mom told police that day. "He's not making good decisions."
Mason was also arrested on March 5 during a traffic stop in Hollywood, Florida, and faced five charges, for resisting an officer/obstruction without violence, reckless driving, failure to register a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana in an amount less than 20 grams and failure to yield the right of way to an emergency vehicle.
Those charges were resolved in Broward County Court on Nov. 3.
Law-enforcement officers were called to Mason's mother's home at least five times between the traffic stop in March and the ATV incident in July.
On July 23, Mason's mother called police because of her son's "unusual behavior" and "irrational statements." According to the police report, Mason told responding officers that day he was "going to call the White House and we were all going to lose our jobs" and "the police were responsible for teaching al-Qaida how to fly planes."
Mason starred on Auburn's SEC-championship team in 2013, leading the conference in rushing with a school-record 1,816 yards. He was drafted by the Rams in the third round the following spring and led the team with 765 rushing yards in 12 games as a rookie. The following season, Mason assumed a backup role to Todd Gurley, the No. 10 overall pick out of Georgia in 2015, and hasn't played since.
Mason, 23, was excused from the Rams' offseason training program in June for personal reasons and was placed on the reserve/did not report list at the start of training camp on July 30, remaining under that designation throughout the regular season.
In early August, Jeff Fisher, who was fired as Rams head coach on Dec. 12, said: "We've been in communication with the family. Not Tre, but with the family. The organization's position, including the league and the players' association, is to take care of him and help him to get the help that he needs to get through this life crisis that he's having."
