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Troubled NY Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress will be charged with weapons possession when he surrenders to New York City police tomorrow (Dec. 1) after accidentally shooting himself in the leg on Friday night at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan with an unlicensed handgun.
According to various news accounts, Burress was at the Manhattan club with other members of the Giants including linebacker Antonio Pierce. Burress, who had been drinking, was attempting to unload his handgun in a secure area of the club, after being confronted by security personnel about the weapon, when it accidentally went off.
Burress reportedly insisted that an ambulance not be called, opting instead for a friend to drive him to Cornell Medical Center where doctors removed a .40 caliber bullet for his right thigh. Police arriving at the club but did not find the handgun and are investigating whether it may have been removed from the scene by Antonio Pierce.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press on Sunday his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, wrote that his client would turn himself in to police on Monday and will plea not guilty to the gun possession charge. In the email Brafman writes, “I would hope that fans of the New York Giants will give Plaxico the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of innocence – something we’re all supposed to be given in this country.”
Burress does not have a license to carry a firearm in New York. If convicted on the illegal possession charge he faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 3.5 years.
