UPDATE: Footage of the crash site has been uploaded by user “UncleFooFoo68” to YouTube. It looks like an exact match to footage and images from the scene in WBNG Action News’ video report.
Amidst the coverage of last night’s Strikeforce event, much of the MMA media’s attention was focused on Jon Jones.
Early yesterday morning, TMZ reported that the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Binghamton, New York. MMA Fighting later confirmed the report with manager Malki Kawa, along with the following report from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office:
According to the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, Jones was arrested at 5:02 a.m. after suffering “minor injuries” following a one-car accident wherein his car struck a pole. Sheriff’s office officials refused to comment on whether there were any passengers in the car with Jones at the time of the accident.
Aside from a short message on Twitter stating “God is good,” Jones has been silent about the incident. Follow-up reports from other MMA websites haven’t turned up any new information, either, aside from UFC President Dana White resignedly saying that it just hasn’t been his week.
Notably, a photo thought to be Jones’ wrecked New Continental GT Bentley circulated around Twitter and other sites yesterday, showing a horrifically chewed up vehicle of the same model type. That photo was later debunked by several MMA writers and journalists as fake.
However, the real images of Jon Jones’ car crash can be found at the WBNG Action News website and in their media server, along with a conclusive video report.
Moreover, the Binghamton news team has more specific information on the accident, including the exact time and place of occurrence—the corner of Grand Blvd. and Helen Street (a residential area just off of Main Street) at roughly 5:00 in the morning.
Binghamton Police received reports of a car crash on the corner of Grand Blvd. and Helen Street around 5 A.M. Saturday morning.
Police told Action News that Jon Jones was on the scene, and it was his 2012 Bentley that had crashed into a telephone pole.
Through the investigation, it was determined that Jones was driving the vehicle.
He was arrested and charged with a DWI.
(A/N: As noted by Rleacher Beport, the metadata from the image hosted on WBNG’s server indicates that the photo was created at 5:37:43 a.m. by a Motorola Android phone.)
As a related tidbit to the news, this is actually the second time that Jon Jones has been involved in a vehicular accident. Prior to his fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Jones survived a brutal collusion with another car on January 19, 2011, where the woman driving the other vehicle was reportedly carried away by paramedics on a stretcher.
Currently, no mugshot of Jones has appeared on the Internet, and the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion suffered only minor injuries. No penalty has been addressed by the Broome County Sheriff’s Office at this time.
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