Former 49er Neville Shot Dead by Police in Fresno

Tom Neville, a 6-foot-5, 350-pound former NFL lineman, was shot dead by police, who say he escaped from a Fresno psychiatric hospital and barricaded himself in an apartment.

Neville, 36, died Saturday. He received about a dozen gunshot wounds, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden said.

Neville played for the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers in a career that lasted from 1986-92.

The standoff began after Neville escaped Cedar Vista Hospital in Fresno on Friday night, police Lt. John Fries said. Neville broke into an apartment complex across the street and was found hiding in a supply closet at about 2 a.m. Saturday.

“When officers were attempting to control him, he literally threw them aside, two to three officers into a wall,” Fries said.

Officers began firing after nine nonlethal bean bag shots failed to subdue Neville.

“It was kind of a desperate situation,” Fries said. “When he began to get control of an officer’s weapon, they had no choice but to shoot him.”

Three officers sustained minor injuries.

Neville had been hospitalized since Wednesday, when police received two complaints from a Fresno hotel that Neville, who was armed with a hunting rifle, was acting “bizarre” and “out of control,” police said.

On Friday, Neville assaulted another patient, then rammed through a locked, steel door.

“He took a full run at it, like you would a tackling dummy, and broke it wide open,” Fries said.

Friends and family said Neville, who had been living with his wife and 20-month-old son in Fairbanks, Alaska, had been in Fresno for less than a week.

“It’s a complete shock to everybody,” said Sherell Neville, his stepsister. “This was not at all like how he would normally behave.”

Motor Sports

Mika Hakkinen was in command from start to finish as he drove his McLaren-Mercedes to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, his third this season. David Coulthard came in second, giving the McLarens their third 1-2 finish in five races this year.

Canadian Greg Moore outmaneuvered Alex Zanardi as they contested the lead with five laps remaining, then hung on to win the Rio 400, a CART series race at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Soccer

Imad Baba’s goal in the 89th minute gave the New England Revolution a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny at Foxboro, Mass.

Accustomed to years of triumphs and angered by a second consecutive season of flops, thousands of AC Milan fans marred the last home game of the season, a 1-1 tie with Parma at Milan, Italy.

They blocked the bus taking Milan players to the stadium for the game against Parma, then forced an eight-minute suspension during the second half by hurling bottles and vegetables into the field.

Juventus of Turin, behind three goals from Filippo Inzaghi, clinched its second consecutive Italian League title after a 3-2 victory against Bologna at Turin, Italy.

Thousands of Juventus fans stormed the field at Delle Alpi to celebrate the win. Juventus, which leads runner-up Inter Milan by seven points with one game remaining, won a record 25th title and its third in four years.

Miscellany

Russia’s Dmitry Sautin saved his best dive for last to win the platform gold medal at the 1998 FINA/USA Diving Grand Prix at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Sautin, the reigning world and Olympic platform gold medalist, led China’s Tian Liang by .90 heading into the final round of the 10-meter platform.

By the time Sautin stepped up for his final dive he needed to score higher than 75.36 for the gold.

He nailed the back 1 1/2 somersault with 3 1/2 twists (3.2 degree of difficulty) for a score of 92.16, scoring three 10s in the process.

Sautin finished first with 673.98 points. Tian finished second with 655.38, followed by Mark Ruiz, of Orlando, Fla., with 633.25.

The 17th-seeded team of Emanuel Rego and Andre Gomes took their first championship on the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour by upsetting fifth-seeded Mike Whitmarsh and Brian Lewis, 14-9, in the finals of the Miller Lite Open at San Antonio.

USC freshman Rik Currier gave up four hits and one run in 7 2/3 innings to lead seventh-ranked Trojans (38-14, 20-9 in Pacific 10 Conference) to a 5-2 victory over top-ranked Stanford (41-9-1, 22-7) at Palo Alto.

Brad Ticehurst hit a three-run homer in the second inning and Robb Gorr hit a solo shot in the third for the Trojans.

The Trojans and Cardinal play again tonight in their Pacific 10 finale.

* Randy Harvey has the day off.