Former 49ers player Joe Williams was arrested in West Hollywood on Wednesday after authorities said a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said officers initially pulled him over over a possible traffic violation, then took him into custody after he was wanted on an outstanding felony warrant for receiving stolen property.
The arrest gives new weight to a name that once carried real draft-day intrigue in San Francisco. Joe Williams was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round in 2017, with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan both involved in the decision. Shanahan was so eager to land him that he told Lynch, "If we don't get him, I'll be sick," and later, "I will be contemplating Joe Williams all night."
That excitement never translated into a regular-season snap. Williams spent his rookie season on injured reserve with an ankle injury and was waived on August 31, 2018, without appearing in a game for the San Francisco 49ers. What followed on Wednesday was a different kind of attention: authorities said he refused to surrender and fled, leading to arrests on suspicion of receiving stolen property, resisting or obstructing an officer, vandalism, trespassing and violating the terms of probation or supervised release.
The unresolved piece is the warrant itself, which authorities said was for receiving stolen property, but did not publicly explain the underlying basis for it. Williams is scheduled to appear in court on November 2, and that date now stands as the next marker in a case that has moved far beyond the traffic stop that started it.
