Kansas City, Missouri After turning himself in to Texas authorities, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice returned to work in less than a week.
Rice and his colleagues started the Chiefs’ optional offseason program on Monday. He participated in video conferences where meetings were led by coaches.
“As we’ve done in the past, we’ll just wait for the law enforcement aspect of it to take place and then we’ll go from there,” coach Andy Reid said of Rice prior to the start of team meetings on Monday. “I had the opportunity to talk to Rashee. I won’t get into it, of course. The fact that he gained knowledge from it is what matters most.
The police claim that late last month, Rice was involved in a multi-vehicle crash in northeast Dallas. Authorities claim that he was the driver of the Lamborghini sport utility vehicle that ignited the event, which set off a chain reaction involving four additional vehicles.
Rice, 23, is accused of six collisions with injuries, one collision involving serious injuries, and one aggravated assault allegation. Rice’s lawyer, Texas state senator Royce West, confirmed to the Associated Press through a spokesperson on Thursday night that Rice had turned himself in at the Glenn Heights Police Department. According to documents, Rice was checked into the DeSoto Regional Jail, according to several accounts. On Thursday night, a $40,000 bond allowed him to be released. A lawsuit against him has also been filed by two of the crash victims.
The next steps for Rashee Rice are a suspension, potential charges, and an inquiry.
The Chiefs’ first optional offseason practice will take place at their training site on May 20. Reid speculates that Rice might not have been among his teammates that day.
“We’re just going to take it day by day,” Reid said. All we can do is wait and see. I want to keep asking law enforcement officers for information and see where things go from there.
A few weeks before the incident, Rice was in Fort Worth, Texas, working out with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ newest seasoned receiver, Marquise Brown.
“I’ve worked with Rashee throughout the offseason, just in general,” Mahomes said on Monday. “We will undoubtedly continue that work as the judicial proceedings develop.”
One charge of aggravated assault, one crime of collision with serious bodily injury, and six counts of collision involving injury have been filed against Theodore Knox, the twenty-one-year-old driver of the Corvette. Additionally, Knox has an arrest warrant issued for him.
SMU cornerback Knox has been suspended from the team, the AP reports. Knox was helping the police, according to Deandra Grant, Knox’s attorney, who told the AP. Authorities claim that Knox and Rice left the area. When asked why Rice quit the scene, West once said that it was “a valid issue that’s still being investigated.”
Rice and Knox are being sued for $1 million by two victims of the crash. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Dallas County, Texas, Edvard Petrovskiy and Irina Gromova—who were in separate cars involved in the collision—both suffered severe injuries. The injuries include internal bleeding, deformities, many contusions throughout the body, face abrasions requiring sutures, brain damage, and other internal and external traumas that might not be fully visible until after medical care.
In an Instagram story from April 3, Rice said he accepted “full responsibility” for his part in the tragedy.
I discussed the collision from Saturday with investigators from the Dallas Police Department today. “I assume full responsibility for my involvement in this issue,” he said, vowing to continue supporting the relevant authorities.I sincerely apologize to everyone who was impacted by Saturday’s incident.
Two other drivers in the crash got limited on-the-spot medical assistance, and two of the other vehicle’s occupants were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. Rice will “do all in his power to get their lives back to as normal as possible” for the crash victims, according to West’s statement from last week.
Rice, 23, grew up in the North Richland Hills area of Fort Worth and played NCAA football at SMU. The Chiefs selected him in the second round of the 2023 draft, and the previous year he emerged as their best receiver.
Rice topped all Chiefs receivers in 2017 with 938 receiving yards and 79 receptions in 16 regular-season games. He amassed 262 yards and 26 receptions in four postseason games, which enabled the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl.
