Rams defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks, who was arrested in September after a gun was found in the car he was driving near Bakersfield, was charged with one misdemeanor count of carrying a loaded firearm and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, the Kern County district attorney’s office said.

Westbrooks, 26, was initially stopped for speeding on Interstate 5 in Kern County. He was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property, carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a stolen loaded firearm, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.

Westbrooks was released after posting bail and rejoined the team.

Coach Sean McVay said at the time the Rams were supporting Westbrooks.


“Sometimes there are things that we can control, and sometimes you get caught up in bad situations,” McVay said in September. “As we continue to gather more information on that based on what we’ve talked about with Ethan in house, we are supporting him.

“But until we get everything finalized in terms of exactly what the ruling is, what exactly went down — I trust Ethan.”

Westbrooks has played in every game, starting the opener against the Indianapolis Colts and last week’s victory over the Houston Texans. He has two sacks.

The Rams play the Minnesota Viking on Sunday at Minneapolis.


gary.klein@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesklein