LOS ANGELES -- Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Hines Ward was briefly detained at gunpoint Thursday in a mix-up over a reported stolen car, but he was released without being arrested, police said.

Ward told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen in a text message that it was all a misunderstanding.

"There's not a story. It was a misunderstanding and the police apologized to me. I didn't get arrested. I don't have a reaction to a non story," he wrote.

Ward and a female friend were stopped in her car at about 1:30 a.m. in North Hollywood because she had reported the car stolen on April 19, Sgt. Maria Morrison said.

The two had left a restaurant in North Hollywood, officer Sara Faden said.

Police took Ward out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him, Morrison said. Ward and the woman were released after she was able to prove the car was hers.

"She had gone somewhere, misparked it, reported it stolen and found it later" but failed to cancel the police report, Morrison said.

Ward cooperated with police while he was detained, she said.

The woman's name wasn't released, but she isn't Ward's partner on "Dancing With the Stars," Morrison said.

Information from ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen and The Associated Press was used in this report.