College Football

Former Oregon football player in custody after escape

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:50 p.m. ET

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Former Oregon football player Colt Lyerla nearly died from a drug overdose Friday after escaping from custody near Portland.

Hillsboro Police Lt. Henry Reimann said officers found Lyerla at a home a couple miles from the Washington County Jail after officers responded to a reported overdose.

''He wasn't breathing; CPR was administered,'' Reimann said.

Lyerla was eventually revived with naloxone, a drug that reverses the overdose effects of opioids.

Once awake, Lyerla tried to flee, but officers stopped him, Reimann said. Police took him to a hospital for treatment.

The 24-year-old Lyerla was sentenced last month to six months in jail after pleading guilty to forgery. He was lodged at the Washington County Community Corrections Center, a minimum-security work release center across the street from the jail. It's designed to help inmates successfully re-enter the community.

Center director Steve Berger said Lyerla was discovered missing Thursday afternoon after an alarm alerted staff that a dormitory window had been opened. All inmates returned to their dorms for a headcount, and Lyerla was the only one missing.

Reimann said he doesn't know the connection between Lyerla and the house where he was found.

''Apparently he knows them because he went there,'' he said.

One woman at the home was arrested on an outstanding warrant, Reimann said. Police are investigating whether to charge the residents with harboring an escaped inmate.

Once considered an NFL prospect, the 6-foot-4, 242-pound tight end left the Ducks in the middle of the 2013 season after he was suspended for violating team rules. He has had several run-ins with the law since then.

He pleaded guilty to cocaine possession in December 2013 and received a short jail sentence. A DUI charge in 2014 was dismissed. When he was arrested for heroin possession last August, his address was listed as ''transient.'' Another heroin arrest followed.

Police arrested him this spring after the manager of a convenience store said Lyerla twice tried to pay with counterfeit $50 bills. When officers arrested Lyerla, they found heroin in his possession.

Lyerla starred at Hillsboro High before heading to the University of Oregon.

Every team bypassed him in the 2014 NFL draft. The Green Bay Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent, but he suffered a serious knee injury during training camp and was later waived. He later tried the Arena Football League and professional rugby in France.