Former Atlanta Braves star Andruw Jones was arrested early Christmas morning and charged with battery after his wife accused him of attacking her at their home near Duluth, Georgia.
Gwinnett County police responded around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to the couple’s home in the Sugarloaf Country Club for what they described as a domestic dispute between a husband and wife.
According to the police report, Nicole Jones told officers she and Andruw had hosted a Christmas party that night, and that he had several drinks. After the party, she asked him to help her get the house ready for Christmas morning by putting together a computer table. She said he became belligerent while they worked and grabbed her by the arm.
She told police she tried to get away by going upstairs, but he grabbed her by the ankle, dragged her down the stairs, got on top of her, put his hands around her neck and said, “I want to kill you.” She said that because he was so intoxicated, she was able to push him off and get away. She went to her parents’ home nearby.
Police said they found injuries on her neck and photographed them as evidence.
When officers arrived at the house, they said Andruw Jones appeared to have passed out in his clothes. One officer wrote that Jones woke up dazed when they touched his arm, and that he seemed confused about what had happened. He denied hurting his wife.
Jones was booked into the Gwinnett County jail around 4 a.m. and released around 11 a.m. on a $2,500 bond.
Jones, 35, spent 12 seasons with the Braves after breaking into the majors in 1996. He’s a five time All Star with 10 Gold Gloves and 434 career home runs, and he later played for the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees. Earlier this month, he signed a one year, $3.5 million contract to play next season for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League.
