Ex-teammate: Arrested NBA player was giving cash to homeless

[joeybee12]

NEW YORK (AP) -- A professional basketball player was about to give a handout to a man asking for money when police officers took him to the ground and arrested him, a former teammate testified Wednesday.

Ex-Atlanta Hawks power forward Pero Antic said he was sitting in an Uber car with the door open near a trendy Manhattan nightclub in the early hours of April 8 when he heard officers arguing with guard-forward Thabo Sefolosha as he tried to give a beggar money.

''They didn't allow him to give the money,'' said Antic, who was also arrested after he climbed out of the car and touched an officer's shoulder while asking why his friend was being placed under arrest. ''The police officers arrested him before he got to.''

Sefolosha has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor obstructing government administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges stemming from the confrontation with police outside the 1Oak nightclub. Charges against Antic have been dropped. Prosecutors have said in court papers that Sefolosha was lunging toward an officer when he was confronted.

The Swiss national's leg was fractured in the struggle. His attorney has argued that injury was caused by the officers, one of whom had a baton in his hand during the confrontation

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-teammate-arrested-nba-player-giving-cash-homeless-180445080--mlb.html

Posting here because i think this transcends sports.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. This is going to be spendy !!!!!

[Wilms]

2. Was it really a cop preventing him from giving money to a homeless person?

Sounds more like Republican Jesus, if you ask me.

[Ed Suspicious]

3. He should have taught the man to fish or something.

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. These cops are ridiculous.

[Chakab]

10. The district attorneys and judges who go along with these bullshit charges and refuse to taike these

bullies off of the street are even worse IMO. They enable the unprofessional behavior.

[KamaAina]

5. Praise FSM James Blake wasn't giving money to a homeless person!

The pigs would have broken his leg, too!

[hifiguy]

6. There really is no end to the sheer

assholery of kkkops these days, is there?



Sefolosha is going to sue the living bejesus out of them, I am sure. As well he should.

[valerief]

12. It would seem so. They're as low as the average GOP pol. And that's pretty damn low. nt

[NCjack]

7. If only they were donating to the Police Benefit Society, then

there would not be a problem.

[rockfordfile]

8. surreal

"Prosecutors have said in court papers that Sefolosha was lunging toward an officer when he was confronted." That's a bs statement.

[sulphurdunn]

9. Nobody believes what the cops say,

especially the cops.

[frylock]

11. fuck tha police

[George II]

13. Disgusting!

About 15 years ago my mother (4'-11", in her 70s) was trying to put a few dollars in the hand of a homeless old woman sleeping on a NYC subway platform. A cop yelled at her and told her to stop. She turned around and asked him, "what if she was YOUR mother?"

He stopped, thought about it a few seconds, and then apologized!!!

But that was 15 years ago, not today.

[Wilms]

16. Great story.

Go, Mom!

[SoapBox]

14. All I can do is shake my head anymore...

Do police departments make it a goal to hire stupid? Because there sure seems to be a lot of it.

Please sue the living daylights out of the department.

[progressoid]

17. Well..."Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops"

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836

[Victor_c3]

15. Just use the 1st amendment as a defense

According to Citizens United giving money is the same as freedom of speech

[lostnfound]

18. Add "donating while black" to the list of offenses? Nt

[DinahMoeHum]

19. UPDATE: Verdict just in. NOT GUILTY on ALL 3 COUNTS

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/thabo-sefolosha-not-guilty_5617cc2de4b0dbb8000e0fd4?utm_hp_ref=sports&ir=Sports&section=sports

Next on the docket: Sefolosha's lawsuit. Sic 'em Thabo.
http://www.thenation.com/article/nypd-on-trial-nba-player-thabo-sefolosha-fights-back-after-police-beating/