Naked rampage for kicked out basketball player

A Fresno Pacific basketball player not only loses his temper after being kicked off the Sunbird basketball team, he even loses his clothes and goes on a rampage.

Leonard Tyrell Young, 21, was arrested by the Fresno Police Department late Monday night after going on his naked rampage once he was informed he was kicked off the basketball team.

Young went on his rampage in the southeast Fresno area near the Fresno Pacific campus on the cross streets of Chestnut and Butler Avenues. According to a statement from the Fresno Police Department, Young not only showed bizarre behavior, but also violent behavior.

“About 11:30 p.m Monday, officers went to Chestnut and Butler avenues in southeast Fresno after getting reports of a naked man running in the street. Callers said he seemed intoxicated and was pounding his fists on cars,” the release said. “The first officer who arrived watched Young, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, until other officers could assist him.”

Friends of Young, who were some of his former teammates, told the officer that Young had been kicked off the team about an hour earlier. They said he “tore up” his apartment in the nearby Cypress Pointe complex, then ran naked into the street.

Witnesses confirmed that Young even assaulted two women and knocked one to the ground through a punch at a nearby gas station. He also pounded his fist on different cars and on one of the windows of the gas station.

He then even tried to take off with a police car being driven by officer Brian Sturgeon, who also had his partner Jack, a K-9 dog, with him.

“As officer Brian Sturgeon was getting his dog, Jack, out of his police car, Young ran up to him. Sturgeon pushed Young back, but Young got in the front seat and put the car in drive,” the police release said. “Sturgeon and Young grappled, and Jack bit Young on his thigh. Young hit the dog as he tried to drive off. Sturgeon and Jack were only partially in the car as they tried to stop Young. Sturgeon managed to put a foot on the brake pedal, but Young drove the car at about 10 mph across the street. It came to a stop at the gas station.”

Three times assisting cops used a Taser to stop Young, but it had no effect. A flashlight from one officer was used to strike a blow to Young’s wrist to help loosen his grip on the steering wheel of the car. He was finally pulled out of the vehicle from the flashlight blow and apprehended by the officers.

He was booked into Fresno County Jail for suspicion of carjacking, resisting arrest, vandalism, harming a police K-9 officer and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The Sunbirds recently played Fresno State in a preseason game on Friday night. Young did not record any stats in that contest, which was won by Fresno State 73-53.

Young was a transfer student from Coppin State in Maryland. According to Fresno Pacific Athletic Director Dennis Janzen, Young was on track to be eligible to play for the Sunbirds in January of 2012 and was doing well in both basketball and academically.

Janzen  released this university statement:

“We are extremely concerned about what happened and very saddened that it even occurred,” Janzen said. “At this point, Lenny is no longer a member of the team.”

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