Advertisement

San Francisco police officer recounts helping Ricky Pearsall after being shot until ambulances arrived

Ricky Pearsall asked the SFPD sergeant if he was going to die after being shot on Saturday

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·3 min read

San Francisco 49ers receiver Ricky Pearsall was released from the hospital on Sunday after suffering a bullet wound to the chest. The first-round draft pick out of Florida was shot during an alleged attempted robbery at San Francisco's Union Square on Saturday.

Pearsall's mother posted an update on social media that said her son was shot through the chest, but the bullet didn't hit any vital organs. He is now recovering at home, and will miss at least the first four games for the 49ers this season.

However, blood loss could have been a fatal factor for Pearsall if not for the intervention of a San Francisco Police sergeant who quickly found the receiver on the scene. Pearsall was bleeding badly from his wound, as Sgt. Joelle Harrell described to the San Francisco Chronicle's St. John Barned-Smith.

By that time, she’d grabbed Pearsall’s shirt, pressing it into his chest to create pressure on the wound. She pressed her baseball cap against the exit wound in his back.

“I was using my hand for the front just to create a suction so the air wouldn’t enter the wound,” she said.

She said she could feel him getting tense, the anxiety and fear filling him as he realized the extent of his injuries. He was a football player, he said, for the 49ers.

Harrell was just trying to keep pressure on his wounds and slow the bleeding. Stay calm, she told him.

Harrell said Pearsall told the officer he was a football player and asked her if he was going to die. She reassured him that wouldn't happen and began to calm him down.

"Be strong, like you’re on the field," Harrell said to Pearsall, her husband told the Chronicle.

Ambulances soon arrived, as did additional officers who informed Harrell that the suspect had been detained down the street.

Shortly thereafter, a KTVU news camera filmed Pearsall walking to an ambulance. Harrell can be seen accompanying him, continuing to maintain pressure on the wound.

The incident is still under investigation by San Francisco police.

The suspect, 17, was arrested and is believed to have acted alone, though surveillance cameras in the area are still being checked.

Pearsall, soon to be 24, was the 49ers' first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, No. 31 overall. In five college seasons — three at Arizona State, two at Florida — he had 159 catches for 2,420 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The 49ers officially placed Pearsall on the reserve/non-football injury list on Monday afternoon, which will keep him out for at least the first four games of the season. That means Pearsall won't make his debut until at least their Week 5 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 6.