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It started as a good day, and that hasn’t always been the case with Titus Young recently.

But Friday, hours before he was arrested for the third time in less than a week, the former Lions receiver was in a cheerful mood driving around Los Angeles with his father, Richard.

They went to a local Winchell’s Donut House, got coffee and doughnuts, gave their spare change to a couple of panhandlers and cruised back home with the convertible top down on Young’s black Ford Mustang.

“We were really talking, and so I was loving it,” Richard Young told the Free Press. “We get home, and he said, ‘Daddy, I left my phone in the car. Can I get my phone?’ ‘Cause usually I give my wife the key to hold the key, ’cause he’s not supposed to be driving. And I gave him the key, he sat in the car for a minute, and he took off and we ain’t seen him since.”

By midnight, Young was in police custody facing felony charges of burglary and assault on a peace officer and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amorino said police received two calls about suspicious behavior involving Young before the break-in. And Richard Young, who found out about Titus’ arrest in a Sunday morning phone call, said he hopes this is the wake-up call his talented son needs to finally get help for the demons that have been haunting him for some time.

Richard Young said Titus Young had sought help recently at outpatient facilities in Texas and in Newport Beach and Malibu, Calif.

Titus Young was supposed to re-enter a program Monday, Richard Young said, when instead he was in the medical ward of the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana, Calif.

“I hope they just forgive Titus because this ain’t none of Titus, it wasn’t none of his fault,” Richard Young said. “I look at my son right now, I don’t see my son. That’s not my son. I know my son. Titus is not the boy I really raised, I’m saying the way he act, the way he intermix in society right now. He shut down, he look through you, it’s like he’s depressed. He don’t like to watch TV, he don’t like to get involved with music that much. And these are the things that you’ve got to know what’s going on in the world. Cause we in the world, you’ve got to have a relationship with the world. You’ve got to deal with people. I don’t know, but we’ve been trying to get him help.”

Suspended twice at Boise State, including for most of the 2008 season after a fight with a teammate, Young was considered a substantial character risk when the Lions took him with the 12th pick in the second round of the 2011 draft.

He mostly stayed out of trouble his rookie year, when he fought through a preseason hamstring injury to play all 16 games and catch 48 passes (the same as Calvin Johnson had as a rookie), then last spring began a series of bizarre behaviors that ultimately led to his February release.

In May, he punched teammate Louis Delmas and was sent home from voluntary workouts for a week. In November, apparently frustrated that the ball wasn’t being thrown his way, he purposely lined up in the wrong spot on the field multiple times late in a 24-20 loss to the Packers.

Young was suspended by the team the next week and not allowed to attend a Thanksgiving loss to the Texans. He returned for practice the following week, but was sent home again when it became apparent his presence was a distraction in team meetings the night before a December loss to the Colts.

The Lions pushed Young to get treatment for his problems during that time, thought they declined to discuss specifics then and now citing HIPAA laws.

It was around that time, too, that Richard Young said he started noticing a change in Titus’ behavior. When Titus was sent home before the Colts game, Richard Young said it “seemed like that snowball really, really started spiraling around” and “he really was depressed.”

At one point, Richard Young said he and Titus were talking when Titus laid on a bed and said, “Daddy, I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

“He said, ‘I don’t feel good.’ He just started crying,” Richard Young said. “He said, ‘I just don’t feel good. I’m not myself, I don’t feel good, Dad. I don’t know what’s happening to me.’ ”

While Young had been undergoing periodic counseling and, according to his father, was prescribed the powerful antipsychotic drug Seroquel, Richard Young — who said he thinks Titus’ problems stem from a concussion — said Titus wasn’t taking his medicine regularly.

That, perhaps, explains some of Young’s erratic behavior the past week.

Shortly after midnight May 5, Young was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence after Moreno Valley Police say he made an illegal left turn in front of a patrol car.

Not even 15 hours later, Young was arrested again after he scaled the fence of a tow yard where his Mustang was impounded in an attempt to steal it back, according to Sgt. Lisa McConnell of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

On Friday, after Young left his house and headed south toward San Diego, Amorino said the Orange County Sheriff’s Department received a call around 6 p.m. from a resident complaining about a black Mustang parked in his driveway with a male driver passed out inside.

Police, the fire department and an ambulance were dispatched, and Amorino said the Mustang, which was registered to Young, sped away nearly hitting the fire truck.

Two hours later, Amorino said police received another call complaining about a black male in a burgundy undershirt standing on a corner looking into cars as they drove by or were parked along the street.

Police searched the area and couldn’t find Young, but Amorino said they towed his Mustang from a local commercial district.

Around 11:30 p.m., police said Young broke into a San Clemente house through an upstairs bathroom window. The homeowner told California TV station KTLA that he scared off Young after he got up to load the rifle he keeps under his bed, and Amorino said police found Young hiding in the shrubs in the backyard.

Young tried to flee from police and was detained after a brief struggle where he allegedly punched an officer.

While Young is scheduled for a video arraignment today, it’s unlikely that hearing will take place considering his bizarre behavior and that he has been on a medical hold since his incarceration.

If it does, Richard Young said the family will ask a judge to make sure he seeks treatment “because he’s not staying with it and he needs that help.”

“We want y’all to pray for the Young family,” Richard Young said. “Ain’t nothing we can do, man, but pray. We just want Titus to get well, that’s all we’re doing right now. We ain’t thinking about football, we’re thinking about our son now because I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

Source: USAToday