Falcons' Babineaux, friend, smoking marijuana while driving, police report says

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux was smoking marijuana as he and a friend were driving north on I-85 Thursday night, an arrest report from the Gwinnett County Police Department said.

According to the document, released to the AJC on Tuesday, Babineaux picked up his friend, Aaron Robinson, at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and took Robinson to a nearby townhouse to buy marijuana.

Robinson told police Babineaux waited in the car while he went inside to buy the marijuana. Robinson, who was a passenger in the car, told police he was smoking marijuana while they were traveling on I-85 and that Babineaux “smoked from the marijuana blunt at least two or three times.”

Police probed Babineaux several times before he admitted that he also had been smoking marijuana that night, according to the arrest report. He also told police he didn’t know the name of the dealer who sold the drugs to his friend.

When police asked Babineaux why he would drive his friend to buy drugs, he said he “was not thinking right,” the report said.

Babineaux and Robinson were arrested Thursday night during a routine traffic stop. Babineaux was charged with marijuana possession as well as several traffic violations.

Babineaux, 28, was released from the Gwinnett County jail shortly after 5 a.m. Friday after paying a $8,300 bond, according to jail records.

Robinson, 25, from Minneapolis, was charged with possession of marijuana, a felony.

Babineaux's attorney, Patrick McDonough, said in a statement that the Falcons' player is innocent.

"After my preliminary investigation, I believe Jonathan Babineaux is innocent of these charges," McDonough said.

Babineaux was charged with possession of more than one ounce.

He played in the Falcons’ game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, but his arrest falls under the NFL's substance abuse policy and he could be facing a four-game suspension whether he's convicted or not.

"First and foremost, anytime any of our guys show up in a negative light, I am and we are as an organization disappointed," Falcons coach Mike Smith said Sunday. "With that said, this is a process that the league and the legal system goes through. We are going to let that process run its course."

The police officer, who pulled over Babineaux’s 2005 Cadillac Escalade EXT because the tag lights were out and the windows were tinted darker than what is legally allowed, said Babineaux told him he played for the Atlanta Falcons.

When the officer told Babineaux he smelled marijuana, Babineaux replied that he had loaned his car to some friends earlier in the week – and that they had been smoking marijuana.

Babineaux also did not give police permission to search the car. The officer was able to search the car because he smelled marijuana, the report said. He found three bags containing 40 grams of marijuana, police said.

Both Babineaux and Robinson told police that Robinson has a medical marijuana license from California.

Staff writer D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this story.