Former Atlanta Falcons defensive end John Abraham, who allegedly gave a “business associate … a bloody nose,” is wanted by Brookhaven police on a charge of misdemeanor battery.
The charge stems from a Feb. 28 alleged attack at the Pink Pony strip club, Brookhaven police Officer Carlos Nino told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. Investigators could not get surveillance footage until recently, Nino said in explaining the charge delay.
Vladmir Ako, the alleged victim, told police he and Abraham used to be friends but had a falling out over finances a couple of years earlier but remained partners in a beverage business, according to a poilce report.
Ako said he saw Abraham at the club and approached him to “squash the problems the two had experienced.” Instead, Brown punched him in the face about five times, according to the police report.
“Ako states that he never threatened Abraham nor did he ever touch Abraham; not even in self-defense,” the report said.
At the time, Ako said he waited 12 hours to report the attack because he feared bad publicity might hurt the business, the report said. Employees told the investigator there had been an altercation between the two men.
It is not the first run-in with the law for Abraham, who retired from the Arizona Cardinals after a concussion in 2014.
In September 2012, he was arrested and booked into the Fulton County Jail on obstruction charges after he allegedly refused to follow police orders to leave a scene as a woman was threatening to jump from a building at Atlantic Station.
According to the police report, officers were putting up crime scene tape when Abraham entered the restricted area. A firefighter repeatedly told him to step back, but the 6-foot-4, 263-pound NFL veteran would not listen.
Abraham was later released on $7,000 bond.
A year ago, he was arrested in DeKalb County while playing for the Arizona Cardinals on a charge of driving under the influence. Abraham was charged with stopping, standing or parking prohibited in specified place. He was jailed and released on June 29, 2014.
Abraham was released by the Falcons after the 2012 season. The move to release the team’s best pass-rusher was not popular among some fans.
—Staff writer D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this article.
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