Former Detroit Lions receiver Titus Young's third arrest in less than a week could have resulted in his life.
It was Bill Palttos' home in San Clemente, Calif., that Young allegedly broke into late Friday night.
Palttos, who has a military background, sleeps with a rifle under his bed. He told Los Angeles television station KTLA that he heard footsteps on the hardwood floor outside the bedroom and started to load his gun.
“I was by the (bedroom) door and, all of a sudden, the door opened up,” Palttos said. “I just yelled at him, ‘You better get the hell out of my house.’
“I feel sorry for him, and I’m sure glad that he left and I didn’t have to find out what’s going to happen if he came in because I’m afraid I would have shot him.”
Young, 23, faces felony charges of burglary and assault on a police officer, along with a misdemeanor for resisting arrest. He has been in jail on $75,000 bail.
Five days before that incident, Young was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Moreno Valley, Calif. Some 15 hours later, he then allegedly tried to steal his car, which had been impounded, out of a tow yard.
Young, a second-round draft pick in 2011, was released by the Lions in February following a series of disciplinary problems last season.
