"Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress surrendered himself to New York City police authorities at Manhattan's 17th precinct at 8:03 Monday morning to face criminal gun possession charges.

Wearing jeans, a black blazer and a white collared shirt, Burress did not appear to be favoring his right leg -- that's the one he accidentally shot at a Manhattan nightclub early Saturday morning.

Burress, 31, was accompanied by his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, whose celebrity clients include rap impressario Sean (Puff Daddy/P. Diddy) Combs. Brafman successfully defended Combs from a gun possession charge in 1999.

Burress is expected to be processed by police and then arraigned on a felony gun possession charge. Depending on the degree of the felony charge, he could face from 3 1/2 to 15 years in jail.

Burress did not play in Sunday's 23-7 Giants win over the Redskins in Landover, Md. He had already been ruled out of the game on Friday with a hamstring injury to the same leg.

The Giants have said they will not decide what to do with Burress until all the facts are in about Saturday's incident at the LQ (Latin Quarter) club on Lexington Ave. Burress signed a five-year, 35 million dollar contract extension on Sept. 4. He could also face penalties from the NFL under its player conduct code.

Burress, who caught the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII, has already been disciplined twice by the Giants this season.

Brafman said Burress would be taken to central booking and arraigned later Monday.

"As agreed, Mr. Burress surrendered this morning voluntarily," he said. "He will be in court later this morning. He'll plead not guilty and will deal with the legal process in a responsible and professional manner. He's standing tall. He's a mature adult handling this very well, I think under the circumstances. He wants me to tell all the fans who have written and called and teammates that he very much appreciates their expressions of concern. He's under instructions from his counsel to not speak about the incident and he's been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from people who I think understand that he's a fundamentally decent man in a difficult situation.""