Giants star Plaxico Burress arrives at stadium as team mulls future
Tuesday, December 2nd 2008, 12:48 PM
Giancarli for News Plaxico Burress, in driver's seat, leaves his home in Totowa, NJ, on his way to a meeting at Giants Stadium Tuesday morning.
A day after being busted on gun charges that could put him in jail for at least 3 1/2 years, troubled Giant Plaxico Burress showed up at team practice Tuesday - possibly for the last time.
Dressed in a black jacket, light-colored T-shirt, jeans and tan work boots, Burress arrived at Giants Stadium at 9:20 a.m. for a mandatory injury treatment session for his right strained hamstring and the self-inflicted gunshot wound he got while drinking at a midtown nightclub early Saturday.
The Super Bowl hero drove up in a gray van, went through a Meadowlands security gate and parked next to the stadium. Carrying a Starbuck's coffee, he silently strode about 15 feet and through a door without speaking to a crowd of about 20 reporters waiting for his arrival.
The star receiver is expected to meet with team officials for the first time since the shooting that has led the NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg to accuse the Giants and an elite upper East Side Hospital of covering up the crime.
The Giants, who could place Burress on the Non-football Injury list once, are expected to announce a decision on his future later Tuesday.
Burress' troubles go far beyond the football field. On Monday, he was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years in prison for a conviction.
Bloomberg, who fought to have New York's gun laws toughened, told reporters Monday it would be an "outrage" if Burress wasn't prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"It's pretty hard to argue the guy didn't have a gun and that it wasn't loaded," Bloomberg said, slamming the man who caught the winning touchdown in the Giants' upset Super Bowl win over the Patriots.
"You've got bullet holes in and out to show that it was there."
Bloomberg and the NYPD have also lashed out against New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell and the Giants for not immediately reporting the shooting to police. Cops learned of it from TV Saturday afternoon.
A Weill Cornell spokeswoman said late last night an employee was suspended in connection with the case. The NYPD is investigating whether any hospital staffers would be charged for not reporting the gunshot wound.
Investigators also want to interview Burress' teammate Antonio Pierce, who cops say stashed his friend's blood-stained gun after the shooting.
Pierce failed to meet with cops at both the 17th Precinct and his New Jersey home. It is not known if he will be charged with a crime.
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