Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Lucky Whitehead (13) gets tackled on a reverse play by New York Giants free safety Landon Collins (21) during the fourth quarter. File photo by Rich Kane/UPI |
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All charges have been dropped against former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Lucky Whitehead, and the Prince William County Police Department said Tuesday it regretted the impact its errors had bestowed upon Whitehead and his family.
Whitehead, a native of Manassas, Va. whose full name is Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr., reportedly was released by the Cowboys on Monday after reports surfaced of his arrest last Saturday morning for shoplifting and his failure to show up for a court date earlier this month.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported Tuesday the paperwork to release Whitehead had not been filed Monday. It meant Whitehead had not been officially cut. However, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed to the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday that Whitehead had been released for a number of issues.
"We made a decision. We're moving on," Jones said, according to the Morning News.
Whitehead denied he was in the state of Virginia at the time of the arrest and claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, which Prince William County Police Sergeant Jonathan L. Perok confirmed Tuesday in a statement.
"Upon reviewing the June 22, 2017 arrest of an individual named "Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr.", the police department is confident that the man charged with petit larceny, and who is subsequently being sought on an active warrant for failure to appear in court, is not Lucky Whitehead of the Dallas Cowboys," Perok's statement read in part.
The department went on to say that the man did not have identification on him at the time of his June 22 arrest, but verbally provided his information to police officers.
Officers then checked his information through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles database and used the DMV photo on file to compare to the man they had in custody.
"... Officers acted in good faith that, at the time, the man in custody was the same man matching the information provided. At this point, the police department is also confident in confirming that Mr. Whitehead's identity was falsely provided to police during the investigation. The police department is currently seeking the identity of the man involved in the incident."
Whitehead was in Dallas at the time of the arrest, according to his ticket for a United flight that departed at 7:18 a.m. and landed in Washington, DC at 11:30 a.m., 10 hours after the crime allegedly took place.
"To be honest, I just couldn't believe it," Cowboys star wide receiver Dez Bryant told reporters after the Cowboys released Whitehead. "I pray it's not true, and I understand he got cut. I wish the best for him."
Whitehead, 24, spent the first two seasons of his NFL career with the Cowboys and played primarily as a kick/punt returner.
