KICKER HAS HAD PREVIOUS BRUSHES WITH POLICE

Drugs Suspected In Janikowski Fall

Raiders placekicker Sebastian Janikowski, who last year was acquitted of a
drug-possession charge, required stitches early yesterday after falling in
a bar because of an apparent drug overdose, police said.

Law enforcement sources said that police transported Janikowski, 23, to
California Pacific Medical Centers' Davies campus after they were flagged
down by patrons shortly after midnight in front of the Sno-Drift bar and
dance club at 1830 Third St.

Police sources said Janikowski had an apparent drug overdose, and a
paramedic source said the dispatch call on the 911 system came in as an
overdose of gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB).

At the Bayview District police station, Lt. John Feeney said, "I have no
information on whether tests were given at the hospital" to determine what
drug might have been involved. Feeney added that he did not know whether
criminal charges would be pursued if any tests did prove Janikowski had
used the illegal drug.

Janikowski's agent said the player had a couple of drinks and slipped while
dancing.

Officers reported that the 6-foot-1, 255-pound kicker sustained an injury
near his eye when he fell to the floor, where he lay flailing in reaction
to the apparent drug overdose. He was taken to the Davies campus, on Castro
at Duboce, and received five stitches, but hospital spokeswoman Ann Mosher
declined to comment on the case, citing patient confidentiality rules.

Sno-Drift is a fairly nondescript bar and after-hours nightclub along an
industrial stretch of Third Street at the base of Potrero Hill that
attracts large crowds of club-goers on the weekend.

Janikowski went to the club after the Raiders beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-21
in Oakland on Sunday.

Janikowski has had previous troubles with the law. While at Florida State,
he was accused of trying to bribe a police officer to release his friend
after an altercation outside a nightclub. Last year, he was arrested on
suspicion of possessing GHB. He was tried and acquitted both times.

GHB, the so-called "date rape" drug, was banned by Congress last year but
remains popular at all-night raves and dance clubs because the liquid
produces euphoric effects when taken in small amounts.

However, health experts say addiction and overdoses are common, resulting
in slowed breathing, dangerously low heart rates, vomiting, coma and even
death.

Janikowski's agent, Paul Healy of Jacksonville, Fla., said he knew nothing
about Janikowski collapsing from a loss of consciousness. Healy said
Janikowski had fallen while dancing.

"He was dancing and he slipped," Healy said. "He was at a club in San
Francisco. You know how slippery those dance floors can be. He had a couple
of drinks, but that's not a crime."

Raiders coach Jon Gruden confirmed that Janikowski had told him much the
same thing. "I'm glad he fell on his head and not his leg," Gruden said
with a smile.

During the hour the media was allowed in the Raiders' locker room yesterday,

Janikowski was not present. Special-teams coach Bob Casullo said the kicker
spent a normal Monday. "He worked out, we had our meetings, watched film.
He seemed the same as ever."

Casullo said that if Janikowski indeed had collapsed and been hospitalized,
"He did a great job of covering it up and he must have great powers of
recovery."