THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch was charged with three gun-related misdemeanours Thursday after his arrest last week in Southern California.

Lynch was charged in Los Angeles County Superior Court with possessing a concealed, loaded and unregistered firearm, police Detective Ryan Thompson said.

Lynch was arrested on Feb. 11 after police smelled marijuana coming from a parked car that Lynch occupied with two other men. Officers searched the vehicle and found a loaded pistol and four marijuana cigarettes. They did not book any of the men for any drug offences.

"We would have preferred no criminal charges. However, given that charges were filed we are pleased that they are misdemeanours as opposed to felonies," said Lynch's attorney, Gerald Schwartzbach.

Lynch's arraignment is scheduled for March 3.

The arrest was his second brush with the law in less than a year. In June, Lynch pleaded guilty to a traffic violation and admitted driving off after striking a female pedestrian with his car near Buffalo's downtown bar district on May 31.

Bills coach Dick Jauron said he was not pleased with the latest arrest, though it was unclear if the team would reprimand the 22-year-old running back.

"You never like to see any Bills names or really an NFL name in the news in regards to those kinds of incidents," he said Thursday during a news conference at a scouting combine in Indianapolis.

The league has yet to determine whether the charges against Lynch warrants disciplinary action -- including the possibility of suspension without pay -- for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.

Lynch, the Bills' first-round draft pick out of California in 2007, played in his first Pro Bowl earlier this month.