Chip Banks Arrested Again on Drug Charges

Chip Banks, formerly a National Football League all-pro linebacker, was arrested Tuesday in Atlanta and charged with possession of crack cocaine and marijuana, Police Sgt. P. L. Mitchell said.

Banks, 28, was arrested after dropping a brown bag containing one dose of crack and a bag of marijuana on the ground when they approached, police said.

Banks, who was a star at USC and most recently played for the San Diego Chargers, is on five-year probation for a March conviction of cocaine and marijuana possession, stemming from an October arrest. He pleaded guilty, paid a $1,000 fine and entered a drug-treatment center this spring.

Banks sat out last season in a contract dispute with the Chargers.