CINCINNATI -- Bengals cornerback Adam Jones won't face a felony indictment in connection with his arrest at a Downtown hotel earlier this year.
In fact, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he thinks the city of Cincinnati should toss the case against Jones entirely.
"It's just drunken foolishness," Deters said.
Deters announced his decision to dismiss a count of harassment with a bodily substance Wednesday afternoon. He said he didn't believe what Jones did rose to the level of a felony.
"In this case, Adam Jones had some chew in his cheek, and he spit it out and it hit the nurse's hand," Deters told 700WLW host Bill Cunningham.
The nurse has been pursuing a lawsuit, according to Deters, adding another reason he wouldn't prosecute the felony count.
"People tend to use my office as a bill collection agency -- they threaten prosecution, but they want money," Deters said. "If they go down the civil path, we don’t pursue criminal charges. It happens all the time."
The prosecutor also said he told Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and City Solicitor Paula Boggs Muething the case against Jones was now in their hands, as the remaining counts are city-level misdemeanors. He told Cunningham he'd encouraged Muething to get rid of the charges.
City attorneys "are evaluating the evidence now and will proceed accordingly," Muething said in a statement.
Emily Parker, Bengals director of communications, said the team would not have a response to Wednesday's announcement. The team has generally declined to comment on Jones' legal troubles.
Jones, 33, was arrested in January after an argument outside the Millennium Hotel turned into a physical confrontation with a security guard, according to police. A man who identified himself as a Millennium Hotel security guard told the dispatcher that Jones and another person were causing a "ruckus."
He was recorded in the police vehicle that night berating the arresting officer and saying “I hope you die;” when he arrived at the Hamilton County Jail, court records said, he spat at a jail nurse and needed to be physically restrained.
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Jones still faces misdemeanor counts of assault, disorderly conduct and obstructing official business. Deters hadn't decided immediately whether to press the more serious felony charge for his treatment of the nurse.
Jones entered anger management and alcohol-related treatment after his arrest, and he's extended that treatment, Deters said Wednesday.
"That does play into my decision," he told Cunningham.
"We have all this stuff to keep people out of the system. Hopefully he’s cleaned up his act. The doctor says he has."
