Steeler Hines Ward briefly cuffed by LAPD

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PITTSBURGH, May 6 (UPI) -- Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward said he thought Los Angeles police were joking when they handcuffed him during a traffic stop this week.

"I thought I was being 'Punk'd,'" Ward told WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh. "I realized I wasn't when police ordered me to the ground and handcuffed me."

The LAPD wasn't kidding. Officers apparently thought the car Ward and some friends were in had been stolen and swarmed to the scene in the Hollywood area with guns drawn.

Ward, a contestant on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," was not formally arrested in the incident early Thursday and his agent, Andrew Ree, told WTAE: "There's no story. It's over."

A police spokesman said the car had indeed been reported stolen last month but the owner had found it parked in another location and neglected to tell police. The spokesman said standard police procedure when stopping a suspected stolen vehicle is to have guns at the ready and secure all occupants with cuffs.