Seahawks' Chad Wheeler Arrested Following Alleged Domestic Violence Incident
After being arrested early on Saturday morning for suspicion of domestic violence, Seahawks reserve offensive tackle Chad Wheeler posted bail on Tuesday morning and has been released from the King County Jail.
As originally reported by Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Wheeler has been accused of assaulting a woman at an apartment in Kent, a southern suburb of Seattle. A report from the Kent Police Department accuses him of throwing the woman onto a bed, strangling her before losing consciousness, and picking the lock to the bathroom door where she had barricaded herself in an attempt to call 911 for help once she regained consciousness.
Per the report, the incident started with Wheeler asking the woman to bow to him in the apartment. He also has apparently not been taking his medication for bipolar disorder.
When reached for comment, the Seahawks released a statement saying, "We are aware of the situation and still gathering information."
This isn't Wheeler's first run-in with the law. While attending USC in 2015, police responded to an incident at an apartment near the campus in southern Los Angeles and found him under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and violently punching walls and windows. He was eventually detained by police but wasn't arrested, instead being sent to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and eventually being suspended for the Holiday Bowl.
This incident, along with a prior history of injuries, led to Wheeler going undrafted in 2017. The Giants signed him as a priority free agent and he played in 27 games in two seasons with the team, including making 19 starts at right tackle, before being waived in September 2019.
Since then, Wheeler has spent most of the past two seasons on the Seahawks' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster in mid-December and appeared in five games in 2020, including logging 44 snaps in a 40-3 win over the Jets in Week 14.
Set to be a restricted free agent when the new league year opens in March, Wheeler has another court hearing scheduled on Wednesday after posting bail.
