JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Jaguars running back Denard Robinson insists he wasn't under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he fell asleep behind the wheel of his car that rolled through a red light and into a retention pond.
Robinson was cited for careless driving a week after the July 3 accident. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office's began an investigation of officers who responded to the scene.
"I feel blessed, man," Robinson said Thursday after the team's first training camp practice. "It could have been a situation where I couldn't be talking to y'all right now. The situation could have been way worse than that. I could have hurt somebody or killed somebody. I'm truly blessed that nothing happened to nobody.
"It's one of those things that open your eyes and say you've got to count your blessing, and I understand that."
Robinson said he "ended up dozing off" at the intersection a little after 4 a.m. after a "busy day." The former Michigan star added that he "probably should have just stayed in."
Police say officers found Robinson asleep in his Chevy Impala while it was sinking in the pond. The 25-year-old player and a female passenger, his cousin, were unhurt. But officers had to tell Robinson multiple times the car was in the pond and persuade him to get out of the car, according to the police report.
One officer questioned Robinson and determined he was not impaired. But the report said police did not perform any drug and alcohol tests.
"They questioned me. They did a lot of questions. They did a lot of tests," Robinson said. "I made a mistake. It was a mistake that happened, and I've got to deal with it. I'm a man. I'm going to have to face it and do what I have to do."
General manager Dave Caldwell and coach Gus Bradley have defended Robinson, saying he did nothing wrong other than being out a little later than he should have.
"I think that is a cautionary tale for a lot of our guys that at 3 or 4 in the morning you leave yourself vulnerable for things to happen," Caldwell said earlier this week.
The accident came two weeks after Jaguars linebacker Dan Skuta was arrested in Orlando for allegedly pushing the face of a woman whose head hit a glass window. The battery charge was dismissed July 14 after the state attorney's office determined the case was "not suitable for prosecution."
"It was extremely odd for me because I didn't even know what happened," Skuta said Thursday. "I didn't know what I was being accused of, so I'm sitting there thinking I'm just being attacked by a police officer. I had no idea.
"Obviously, they thought they had a reason or whatever. It was very odd. I was very confused. I had two people there that saw the whole thing, and I wish that maybe the police officers would have taken the time to talk to them. That would have been very helpful, but that didn't happen."
Skuta said legal fees cost him $10,000.
Robinson, meanwhile, had little damage to his car.
Now, both are trying to repair their reputations and move forward.
"As far as Dan and Denard go, there are probably not two guys in our locker room that take care of their business as well as those guys do," Caldwell said. "I think they are both class acts. They are both high-character guys."
