By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The son of an NFL legend who admitted to taking "four puffs" of marijuana before getting behind the wheel was dealt a blow Tuesday when a Manhattan judge ruled his confession would be used against him at trial.
Chris Simms, son of legendary New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, admitted to police he smoked a joint in his car before he was stopped at an NYPD checkpoint near the West Side Highway last summer. His pregnant wife was sitting in the passenger seat, police said.
"I took four puffs," the younger Simms allegedly told police before he was handcuffed and brought to a nearby precinct. "There's nothing in the car. I smoked everything."
The Tennessee Titan was pulled over in his 1999 Mercedes Benz SUV at about 1 a.m. on June 30. He was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated and was released on his own recognizance.
Simms' lawyer Nathan Semmel had pushed to have his client's statements ruled inadmissable for trial, but Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon ruled Tuesday that the stop was appropriate and the confession was obtained legally.
"The statements made by the defendant to Officer Acosta at the scene will be admissible at the defendant's trial," the judge wrote in his ruling.
Simms was due to be in court Tuesday, but did not appear after his lawyer was stuck out of town because of snow, court officials said.
Police at the checkpoint where Simms was caught said they smelled a strong odor of marijuana inside his car, and added that his eyes were bloodshot and that he was slurring his speech, prosecutors said.
Arresting officer Francisco Acosta told the court during a pre-trial hearing last year that Simms looked "like a zombie," was moving in slow motion and seemed "very out of it."
Simms was initially stopped him initially for making a "wide" right turn off of Washington Street and for speeding, Acosta testified.
No drugs were found in the car.
Simms is due back in court on Jan 21.
