honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 11:45 a.m., Wednesday, June 20, 2007

NFL: 'Pacman' to face felony charges in Las Vegas

By Ken Ritter
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Suspended NFL player Adam "Pacman" Jones will face two felony charges in a strip club melee that preceded a triple shooting in February, authorities said today.

Two other people police identify as part of the troubled Tennessee Titans cornerback's entourage also will face felony charges in the fracas inside the Minxx club, police said in a statement.

No one is named in the shooting that occurred later outside the club, police Capt. James Dillon said. The gunfire left a bar employee paralyzed and two others with less serious wounds.

Warrants were issued for the arrests of Jones, Robert "Big Rob" Reid of Carson, Calif., and Sadia Morrison of New York, an aide to Clark County District Attorney David Roger said.

Jones, 23, of Franklin, Tenn., faces two counts of felony coercion stemming from allegations he bit a bar bouncer on the ankle and threatened to kill club employees, according to a criminal complaint filed in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Reid, 37, who police identify as Jones' bodyguard, faces one felony coercion charge alleging he attacked a bouncer who tried to restrain Jones.

Morrison, 25, faces charges including coercion, felony assault with a deadly weapon and battery stemming from allegations that she hit a bouncer in the head with a champagne bottle and attacked several other club employees with a chair and a stanchion.

Coercion is the act of threatening or physically interfering with a person trying to do something that he or she has a right and responsibility to do.

If convicted, Jones faces up to six years in prison and a $5,000 fine on each charge.

The charges are slightly different from those police sought in March against Jones, Reid and Morrison. Roger declined to file those charges, which included misdemeanor battery and threats. The district attorney instead asked police for more information and to identify a shooter.

"The investigation continued and additional evidence was gathered, that's why it's different," Dillon said. "These are complicated acts and charges. We've worked closely with the district attorney."

A police report says Jones was seen walking away from the strip club with a man wearing a baggy black T-shirt and blue jeans. Minutes later, police say a similarly dressed man standing next to a palm tree fired five or six shots toward people at the front of the club.

A bouncer who Jones fought with was wounded in the chest and left forearm. Another bouncer, Thomas Urbanski, was shot in the left hand and the torso, and was left paralyzed. A female club patron was wounded in the head.

A Las Vegas lawyer representing Jones, Reid and Morrison was trying to arrange their surrender, an aide to Roger said. The lawyer, Robert Langford, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Police earlier called Jones "an inciter" of the Feb. 19 fracas that caused employees to usher people out of the club, Minxx, several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip near the end of NBA All-Star weekend.

The police report says Jones showered dancers on stage with money from a black plastic trash bag — an act of tipping known as "making it rain." When two dancers began fighting over the money, Jones allegedly grabbed one by the hair and punched her.

Jones is accused of swinging his fists and threatening the life of club employees who police said tried to intervene, and is seen on videotape punching a man who police identify as his own business manager.

Langford has called the melee "a glorified bar fight," and said nothing linked Jones with the shooting outside. He said Jones cooperated with police on DNA comparisons that failed to show the NFL star was responsible for a bite injury reported by a bouncer.

The Las Vegas allegations are among a series of arrests and encounters with police that prompted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to suspend Jones for the upcoming NFL season.

Jones agreed this month not to appeal the suspension, and officials said he had a chance to be reinstated after 10 games if he adhered to team restrictions and conditions set by Goodell, including "no further adverse involvement with law enforcement." Missing the entire season would cost Jones his salary of nearly $1.3 million.

Since Jones was drafted by the Titans in April 2005, he has been involved in 11 separate police investigations, including efforts by Atlanta police to question him about a shooting early Monday after a fight at an Atlanta strip club. He has been arrested five times in a little more than two years. He has not been convicted of any crimes.