CHARGER IN TROUBLE IN ATLANTA : Chip Banks Is Beset With Legal Problems

The 400 block of Jones Avenue is the backside of the new South. The modern skyline of Atlanta rises just on the other side of the Omni, the downtown arena that forms a barrier between post-card Atlanta and this deteriorated neighborhood, whose steady commerce, authorities say, is drugs.

It is here in this area of ramshackle frame homes, trash-strewn lots and narrow streets that, according to police, the troubles of Chip Banks, former USC, San Diego Charger and all-pro linebacker, began.

Just a day short of a year ago, police said they spotted Banks stop his late-model imported luxury car with California tags on Jones Avenue. Three officers watched as Banks allowed a man to enter his car and conduct what they suspected was a drug deal.

Banks was followed for several miles before he was stopped. He was arrested when officers found a small amount of what later was identified as marijuana on the console area of his car.

Banks was not tried on that charge. Instead, the case was set aside in August, after Banks completed a pretrial diversion program. The charge was up for dismissal if he remained out of trouble for two years. But Banks’ difficulties with authorities were only beginning.

Since that February night, Banks has been arrested and released on bond three more times. He was stopped twice--in October and again in November--in and around the downtown area on drug charges, and most recently was arrested after a 20-year-old woman said Banks held her against her will in his northern Atlanta condominium Jan. 11 and forced her to commit sodomy. The woman, then eight months pregnant, also said that Banks made her smoke crack cocaine with him.

Police said they found what they believe to be marijuana residue on a television set and a pipe made from a soda can that was used to smoke rock cocaine. A Fulton County grand jury is expected to consider an indictment in the latest case next month.

Any new indictment would be in addition to charges Banks faces from his October arrest. Banks was indicted in December on one count each of cocaine possession with intent to distribute, and possession of less than an once of marijuana. Police said they found the drugs during a search of Banks’ car after he was stopped during a routine roadblock. The arrest was made just a block south of Jones Avenue in a neighborhood that authorities describe as a “known drug area.”

As for what Banks, a four-time all-pro linebacker who did not play last season because of a contract dispute with the Chargers, was doing in that area of Atlanta has so far been left to authorities to explain. They suspect he was there to do what many outsiders go to Jones Avenue to do--buy drugs.

If that is so, if Banks, 29, does have a drug problem, no one is saying. Not Banks. Not his lawyer. Not his agent. All three either declined to be interviewed on the subject or failed to return telephone calls. A recent visit to Banks’ Atlanta condominium revealed only shutters closed, lights off, the garage door shut and a note attached to the door.

That Banks has kept a low profile is not surprising. He has never been one to seek publicity.

When asked his occupation by police after his arrest last February, Banks said he was a self-employed landscaper. He mentioned nothing about professional football and because he was booked under his given first name of William--Chip is a nickname--his arrest did not draw attention.

Even in good times, he gave interviews sparingly. Neither did he save his reserved manner just for reporters. Banks could be a mystery to teammates as well.

“Some of the guys on the Chargers thought he was strange,” said Curtis Rouse, a retired offensive lineman who played with Banks at Laney High School in Augusta, Ga., and with the Chargers in 1987. “He kept to himself. He didn’t talk around the locker room. They asked me what was wrong. I told them for Chip, that was normal.”

Such private ways have made this period extra difficult for his family and those who have known him through the years. They wonder if Banks can return to the National Football League. They wonder if Atlanta, the city where Banks has made his off-season home the last several years, is the right place for him to be these days. They wonder if he is getting the right advice, the proper help or, if necessary, medical care.

Few worry more than his mother, Nancy Ashley. She has not talked with Banks since a terse conversation six weeks ago and has not seen her son in more than a year.

“He was irritated,” said Ashley, who was divorced from Banks’ father when Chip was young. “I asked him how he was doing and he said he was all right. But I know he is not all right.

“(His friends) tell me that Chip is going to be all right, but I don’t know. What are they going to do to make him all right? He needs somebody to come down there and just put him in the hospital. I don’t know if there is anybody who can do that, but they haven’t so far.”

As for what all of this might mean should Banks decide to return to the NFL, no one is sure. The Chargers still hold his rights but have been told that any attempt to reinstate Banks would have to be reviewed by the commissioner’s office in New York.

Banks came to the Chargers on a draft-day trade from the Cleveland Browns in 1987 for San Diego’s first- and second-round picks. The trade ended a stormy stay in Cleveland for Banks, who had a history of contract disputes that began shortly after Cleveland made the former USC star the third player chosen in the 1982 draft.

The Browns tried to trade him before--as part of the 1985 deal with Buffalo that brought them quarterback Bernie Kosar--but that fell through. The Chargers were aware of Banks’ penchant for contract disputes but, at least initially, all went well between the Chargers and Banks. He reported to camp on time and had a strong 1987 season. He finished second on the team in tackles with 71 and was named a Pro Bowl alternate.

His difficulties with the Chargers began before training camp last July when, against the advice of his agent, Harold Daniels of Los Angeles, he turned down the Chargers’ contract offer. That offer was for a reported $4.8 million over five years. But Banks reportedly wanted a $300,000 signing bonus up front. The Chargers declined and Banks sat out the season.

Banks’ troubles occurred during his holdout. He was arrested at the roadblock Oct. 14 when officers detected what they believed to be the odor of marijuana after he had rolled down the window of his car. Police said they found three marijuana butts and several small packets of cocaine in the car.

Banks’ next was arrested Nov. 22 when police said he was stopped in downtown Atlanta after an officer noticed an expired tag on his car. The car was being driven by George Otis Hayes Jr., who gave Banks’ condominium as his address. Both were arrested for cocaine and marijuana possession.

Charges in that arrest apparently will not be pursued, however, because laboratory tests failed to verify the presence of cocaine in two small bags that were seized from Banks’ car, said Keith Lindsey, a Fulton County assistant district attorney.

But the latest arrest has caused them the most concern, friends and family say.

Police were called to Banks’ condominium after receiving a report that a woman was being held against her will. Police said they found the woman locked in the condominium and had to persuade Banks to free her.

The woman told police that she was an acquaintance of Banks and agreed to return to the condominium with him after meeting him at a bar. She told them that Banks locked her in an upstairs bedroom, forced her to smoke crack cocaine and sodomized her.

One of the policemen who responded to the call, Sam Lawter of the narcotics division, said he found Banks “incoherent and apparently under the influence.”

The arrests have led to the impoundment of three of Banks’ cars by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

“I talked to him since the latest arrest, and he said he is innocent,” said David Dupree, his former coach at Laney High School in Augusta. “All of this really has come as a shock. He never seemed like that kind. Some kids you know are going to end up in trouble, but he was never a kid like that.”

Dupree, who now coaches track at Paine College in Augusta, said he takes Banks at his word when he tells him he has done nothing wrong. But even 150 miles away in Augusta, they have heard of places such as Jones Avenue and the people who frequent it.

“I want to believe and then I don’t want to believe him,” Dupree said. “You know, that section of Atlanta they caught him, it’s a pretty bad section for drugs.”