A former Chicago Bears All-Pro cornerback has been arrested on a murder charge in Phoenix, police said.
Michael Richardson, 59, who won a Super Bowl with the Bears in 1985, was arrested Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the Tuesday shooting death of 47-year-old Ronald Like, several police sources told KNXV.
Like, who was discovered by police at an intersection, was rushed to a hospital in a critical condition with a gunshot wound and later died. Phoenix police are investigating the shooting death as a homicide, the Arizona Republic reports.
Richardson, who lives in a closed community in East Mesa, also had a warrant for his arrest, according to court documents cited by KNXV.
Prison records in Maricopa Province show Richardson was unrelated to charges of murder, possession of a weapon by a prohibited person and possession of a dangerous drug for sale. He is due to appear in court on January 6 on the warrant.
It is unclear whether Richardson has hired a lawyer who can comment on the charges he faces.
Richardson, a native of Compton, California, was a starting point for the Bears’ famous defense in 1985 and was named a second All-Pro team in 1986. He was also featured in the team’s iconic ‘Super Bowl Shuffle’ video, KNXV reported.
‘I’m LA Mike and I play it cool. “They do not sneak up on me because I’m not a fool,” Richardson sang on the song.
Before being drafted by the Bears in 1983, Richardson was a notable American at Arizona State University.
Wednesday’s arrest is the latest in a series of legal problems for Richardson. He was previously assaulted twice this year by Phoenix police for alleged drug possession and was arrested in Maricopa County in 2018 on charges of theft and possession of meth, crack cocaine and heroin, KNXV reported.
In 2010, ESPN reported that Richardson was released from custody and suspended a 13-year prison sentence by more than ten years after a California appellate court ruled that he had not violated the terms of his probation in a 2008 conviction for the sale of narcotics.
The incident at the time led to Richardson’s 21st conviction on drug-related charges – and his fifth offense in 16 years, ESPN reported.
Legal problems for Richardson began just three years after his final NFL season in San Francisco in 1989 when he was convicted of two drug counts and sentenced to four years in prison, ESPN reported.
According to Richardson’s public defender, according to court transcripts, Richardson’s ‘deep drug addiction’ began when he was just 13 years old.