UNLV standout Turner arrested

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

UNLV head football coach John Robinson said Tuesday that star wide receiver Nate Turner will remain with the team despite his misdemeanor arrest last week at the Galleria Mall in Green Valley.

Turner, a 6-2, 210-pound junior who led the team with 45 receptions for 627 yards (13.9 average) and six touchdowns, was charged with resisting and obstructing a police officer on the night of Dec. 23. He spent the rest of night in the City of Henderson jail and was released the next morning.

According to the police report, an unidentified victim contacted Henderson police after she said Turner approached her at her car in the mall parking lot.

After the victim turned to walk back into the mall, the police report says, "Turner stated 'I'm heated' and 'if you don't talk to me you know what could happen.' (Victim) stated she was concerned for her safety and the safety of her family, and did not know if Turner would actually harm her."

Police located Turner about 30 minutes later outside of Dillard's department store, but the UNLV football star tried to run away before another uniformed Henderson police officer stopped him at gunpoint.

The report further stated that Turner "continued to be verbally combative and refused to follow commands after being placed in handcuffs. ... Upon arrival at (City of Henderson) jail, Turner again became combative and was placed in solitary confine."

The maximum fine for Turner's charge is $1,000 and six months in jail.

"It's a minor offense," said Charlie Johnson, public information officer for the Henderson Police Department. "It's on the low end of arrests."

Johnson said Turner would probably be arraigned "in about a month" on the charge.

"It's a legal situation that he's going to have to work through the system," Robinson said. "He obviously screwed up and didn't respond well to the circumstance that he was in."

Robinson had not talked with Turner since the incident. The wide receiver from Compton College was spending his winter break in Southern California with relatives who have no phone.

"He's away right now, so we'll have to wait until he gets back to talk about it," Robinson said. "He hasn't contacted us about it, but that might be because he thinks we're not around the office right now."