Skip navigation

‘Pacman’ deserves a lifetime ban from NFL


< Prev | 1 | 2

A couple of the dancers began fighting over the money at one point, and witnesses said Jones grabbed one of them by the hair and punched her in the face several times. A melee broke out when club bouncers tried to break it up, and Jones and his entourage were finally escorted outside.

A cocktail waitress told police an angry Jones threatened to kill the bouncers before walking away with a man in a black T-shirt. A man in a similar shirt came back moments later with a semiautomatic handgun and began firing, hitting three people.

One of those shot was Tommy Urbanski, a former professional wrestler who worked as a real estate broker during the day and as the manager of the club at night to earn extra income to send his wife to law school.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

Urbanski is paralyzed, a 9 mm bullet permanently lodged in his spine.

Urbanski told The Associated Press last month that he couldn’t believe it when Jones took out an full-age ad in a Nashville, Tenn., paper that said learning he would be suspended from the NFL “was one of the worst moments of my life.”

“That’s the worst moment in his life?” Urbanski asked. “Try being put in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. This changes everything.”

Police have yet to identify the man who shot Urbanski and two others. They haven’t gotten a great deal of help in solving the mystery from Jones or his posse.

They’re charging Jones with two counts of felony coercion, and also charging his bodyguard and a female posse member. The charges might be difficult to prove, but there’s also a chance they might loosen some tongues.

Slide show
Image: AEK Athens' Nemeth reacts after a Europa League soccer match against BATE Borisov in Athens
  Week in Sports Pictures
Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more.

more photos

Jones, meanwhile, has already violated the conditions Goodell put on his one-year suspension just two months ago. He’s being questioned in Atlanta about one shooting, and faces arrest in Las Vegas in another.

He’s a thug who should be banned from the NFL for good.

Just make sure he takes the posse with him when he leaves.

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlbergap.org.


< Prev | 1 | 2

Sponsored links