This post was updated on Sept. 1 at 11:16 a.m.

Police arrested UCLA cornerback Ishmael Adams for allegedly stealing an Uber driver’s cell phone outside of UCPD headquarters on campus early Sunday.

Adams, a redshirt junior on the UCLA football team, was arrested about 3:30 a.m. near the Facilities Management building in central campus about a block away from the reported robbery, according to police logs. He was released from the Inmate Reception Center downtown on $100,000 bail early Tuesday morning, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department records.

Adams was arrested about 12 minutes after the driver called police and reported the robbery. The driver also reported apparent minor injuries, police said.

“We are aware of the situation and continuing to gather more information,” UCLA officials said in a statement Monday. “As this is a pending legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.”

Prosecutors have not yet filed charges, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department records.

No further information was immediately available. The case is still under investigation.

Adams has started all 26 games over the past two seasons and was expected to once again start at cornerback for the Bruin defense. The junior set a school record last season by returning two interceptions for touchdowns. In addition to his duties in the secondary, Adams has acted as one of UCLA’s primary kick returners since the 2013 season.

After a career season in his sophomore year, Adams was recently named to the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List, one of the most prestigious college football awards recognizing the nation’s top defensive backs.

No. 13 UCLA will play Virginia for its first game of the season on Sept. 5.

Adams is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in court, but a time and location have not yet been set.

Compiled by Roberto Luna Jr., Claire Fahy and Tanner Walters, Bruin senior staff.

Published by Roberto Luna Jr.

Roberto Luna Jr. is currently a senior staffer covering Westwood, crime and transportation. He was previously an assistant News editor from 2015-2016 and a News contributor from 2014-2015.

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13 Comments

  1. without knowing all the details, however this is a safe assumption of what may have happened. I. Adams goes out partying with few friends. He drinks a few drinks more than he should’ve as he was going to party one last time before the start of the season. He uses common sense NOT to drive and call for an UBER ride. The driver, whom we would not call him names, shows up and agrees to give Adams a ride. Adams tries to converse with the driver during the trip and driver notices that Adams is drunk and does not engage in conversation with Adams. This somewhat upsets Adams and as they arrive at the destination, the UBER driver decides to ask for a higher fare that what Adams has usually paid for similar distance rides. Otherwise, the driver tries to take advantage of Adams by OVER CHARGING Adams for the ride. Adams is short in funds as he is an student / athlete with little $$ gets upset and makes a comment to the driver whom probably does not like Adams for being an African American and decides to respond with a derogatory comment of his own about Adams’s race and color. At this point, Adams responds and the driver being afraid, tries to call 911 to file a police report. Adams, being upset over being over charged and called racist remark, tries to grab the cell phone from the UBER driver in order to defuse the situation and stop the problem from escalating and getting out of hand. Since Adams was under the influence of Alcohol, he stumbles away from the car and drops the cell phone on the ground and starts walking away in order to stop the situation from getting out of hand. At the point, the UBER driver gets out of his car, goes and picks up his cell phone and calls 911 and files a police complaint. In order to get as much sympathy as he can get, he exaggerates the degree of the conflict and makes up the story that Adams tried to rob him and attack him…… which is pure B.S. Of course, there is always 2 sides to every story and Adams will get his day in court to prove his innocence. The UBER driver saw this as a chance to make a few quick dollars as I have seen it with my own eyes that a family involved in a small fender bender to get out of their car and lie on the grass next to the road and PRETEND they are injured…..
    Ishmael Adams is a great young man with great future in football and as a graduate from UCLA. everyone on the team loves him and he is a great Bruin. HE WOULD NOT do any stupid to steal from or rob a smelly UBER driver 3:30 in the morning coming back from a party……… Is it possible that the freaking UBER driver was probably trying to rob a drunk college student and got what he deserved…. ?

    1. So, the Uber drive you say is drunk is completely unreasonable every step of the way, including being smelly and racist. He also exaggerates everything, and overreacts. But Adams–who is also drunk–was calm, reasonable, and kind the whole time? You say that all he wanted to do was to defuse the situation, so that’s why he took the phone. Is that the story you want to go with?

      In any made up story as well as what really happened, Adams stole the cell phone. If you decide to steal a cell phone, then you should be arrested and charged with a crime. This has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with being a poor and unfortunate UCLA athlete. This is about a drunk taking things that don’t belong to him.

    2. Written by someone who’s clearly never taken an UBER before! Smh. Drivers don’t charge the passenger you dunce; the transaction is all handled automatically by the app and is based on time and distance traveled. But great job spending 20 minutes of your day concocting some BS loaded story about events you know absolutely nothing about. Find something more useful to do with that fantastic imagination of yours.

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