ATLANTA – A lawyer for former Atlanta Falcons record-breaking running back Jamal Anderson plead not guilty for felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor marijuana possession at the Fulton County Jail on Monday. Anderson chose not to appear at the hearing after posting a $6,000 bond on Saturday morning.
Anderson is the second television sports analyst to be arrested recently. Bombastic “NBA on TNT” analyst Charles Barkley was arrested for suspicion of DUI on Dec. 31 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Barkley has been on leave ever since, but will return to the Emmy Award-winning show following the NBA All Star Game in Phoenix. Anderson’s future is much more cloudy. Anderson is an NFL analyst for ESPN, but the sports station said he is not currently on the schedule. They said they will wait until later this week to decide Anderson employment status.
Mark Daniel Hudson, 20, who was arrested with Anderson and was held overnight at the jail, had all charges against him dropped. The judge said there was no evidence that Hudson had inhaled any cocaine. Both men were arrested in the bathroom stall of the Peachtree Tavern in the upscale Buckhead section of Atlanta after a patron heard two men sniffing what the person thought was cocaine. The patron alerted a police officer, who heard the men sniffing as well. When the officer peered over the stall, he saw Anderson sniffing lines of cocaine on the bowl of the toilet. The two were subsequently arrested at 3 a.m. and a preliminary search unveiled a marijuana cigarette on Anderson.
Anderson, 36, is next scheduled to appear at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta. The time and date have yet to be determined. Meanwhile, the Peachtree Tavern is under investigation for enabling the underage Hudson in the club in the first place
Anderson ran for an Atlanta Falcon team record 1,846 yards in 1998, the year the team made their only Super Bowl appearance. They lost to the Denver Broncos 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII. Two major knee surgeries in subsequent years effectively ended Anderson’s career. – terry shropshire
