Los Angeles Rams practice squad center Aaron Neary was arrested on suspicion of DUI in Ventura County after crashing his vehicle into a bus stop sign, mailboxes and trash cans in a Simi Valley neighborhood, authorities said Monday.
The incident was reported at 6:27 p.m. Sunday in the area of Royal Avenue and Sinaloa Road, the Simi Valley Police Department reported.
Police received multiple phone calls regarding someone possibly driving under the influence, police said. He was driving erratically and crashed into several fixed objects, not stopping after the crashes.
Officers located the vehicle on El Monte Drive near El Lado Drive and conducted a traffic stop, police said.
The driver, identified as Neary, a Simi Valley resident, provided a breath sample that was .17 percent, more than double the legal limit, police said.
Neary was booked into the Ventura County sheriff's East County Jail on suspicion of DUI, DUI with a blood alcohol level over .08 percent and hit-and-run with property damage, police said.
Neary "communicated to us about what had occurred," Rams coach Sean McVay said in his customary Monday meeting with reporters at California Lutheran University, where the team practices.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
"I think the first thing is what we try to do is use these opportunities when people make a mistake, `Alright let's use these as learning opportunities for everybody," McVay said. "Thank God nobody was injured, that's the main thing."
McVay described the 25-year-old Neary as "a good kid."
McVay said the team will use Neary's arrest "as an opportunity for our whole team, our whole organization to be able to learn from and hopefully let's not make these mistakes again."
Neary was on the sideline for the Rams 34-0 victory over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with his fellow practice squad members, McVay said.
"He went to a place and shouldn't have made that decision," McVay said. "The one thing when you sit down and you talk to him -- when you talk to the human being -- I believe that he felt horrible about it.
"He knows that it was a mistake. I think the way that he handled it, in spite of making that mistake, I had respect for the accountability that he took for that."
Neary returned to the Rams on Tuesday, when he was signed to their practice squad, five days after being cut by the Cleveland Browns.
Neary -- who played college football at Eastern Washington -- played his only regular-season game on Dec. 31, starting at center in place of John
Sullivan, who like many of the other starters, was given the final regular- season game off.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 301-pound Neary spent the 2016 season on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. He was waived in the cut to reduce the roster to the 53-player regular-season limit on Sept. 2, 2017.
The Rams claimed Neary on waivers on Sept. 3, 2017, waived him on Sept. 16, 2017 and re-signed him to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on Dec. 27.
Neary was waived by the Rams Aug. 31, one day before the cut to reduce the roster to the regular-season limit.
Neary was claimed by the Browns on waivers Sept. 2 and waived four days later.
