Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Da'Quan Bowers was arrested Monday morning in New York and charged with felony possession of a firearm. Bowers handed his gun over at New York's LaGuardia Airport, as he apparently didn't know he couldn't carry the gun in his checked baggage. Bowers was scheduled to fly to Raleigh, N.C., where he was expected to celebrate his birthday with family and friends later this week.
However, Bowers was detained by police and charged with possession of a weapon in the second degree, which could lead to substantial jail time for the 22-year-old defensive lineman.
If this sounds familiar, it's because it is. In 2008, wide receiver Plaxico Burress was charged with the same crime, and later spent 20 months in a federal detention facility. New York is home to some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and the district attorneys in the state take these crimes very seriously.
That is, of course, not the best news for the Buccaneers, as they could be without Bowers, a key defensive asset, for the foreseeable future. However, Bowers' good intentions of notifying authorities that he was, in fact, in possession of the handgun might help his case.
The situation is definitely worth monitoring, as free agency is slated to begin soon with the draft just a few months away.
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