A Jet linebacker accused of beating his wife and possessing pain pills and marijuana can get the charges dropped if he completes a probation program, a New Jersey judge ruled yesterday.
Bryan Thomas, 33, has to finish the 24-month pretrial intervention program and do 100 hours of community service to beat the rap, according to his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina.
The 11-year Gang Green vet was busted by Randolph Township cops at his home on Halloween for allegedly pushing his wife with a kitchen chair, punching her in the gut and grabbing her around the neck.
Cops found a drug stash that included pot, a hookah and rolling papers, along with hydrocodone pills stored in a prescription bottle with no label.
Judge Stuart Minkowitz OK’d Thomas for the program in Morris County Superior Court after Tacopina cut a deal with county prosecutors.
Thomas, who has been with the Jets longer than any other player on the squad, was cut last September but re-signed two days later and finished the team’s comically disastrous 6-10 season.
Under terms of the deal, the 6-foot-4, 265-pound brute has to undergo psychological, drug and alcohol counseling and submit to random urine testing.
Neither Thomas nor his wife would comment after the hearing.
But his angry spouse scolded reporters outside the courthouse, telling them not to write about the case, according to the Web site nj.com
“It’s a family issue. This is not fair,” she complained.
— With AP