CANTON, Ga. -- Former big-league outfielder Otis Nixon has been arrested on drug charges following a weekend traffic stop in suburban Atlanta.
Nixon was pulled over just after midnight Saturday after another driver called police to report a Dodge Ram truck weaving all over the road, according to an incident report from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. The 54-year-old remained in jail Monday afternoon on US$11,880 bond.
Officers found a pipe for smoking crack cocaine in Nixon's pants pocket and found a suspected crack rock in the driver's seat, the report says. They later found another pipe and more suspected crack rocks in the floor board of the driver's side, as well as other paraphernalia.
A sheriff's deputy arrested Nixon on charges of possession of cocaine and possession of a drug-related object. It wasn't immediately clear Monday whether Nixon had a lawyer.
Nixon told officers he was driving a friend home and didn't believe he was weaving. He told the sheriff's deputy that the substance officers found in the car was crack cocaine but said the pipes and drugs belonged to his son and that he had been planning to get rid of the pipe.
Officers conducted field sobriety tests and determined Nixon wasn't under the influence of crack cocaine or alcohol.
The speedy Nixon collected more than 600 stolen bases in 17 seasons from 1983-99. He played for the Montreal Expos from 1988-'90 and spent the 1996 season with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Nixon also played for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins over his career.
