Videos of Thabo Sefolosha's Police Altercation and Arrest Leaked by TMZ
TMZ obtained video of police in New York City arresting Atlanta Hawks forward Thabo Sefolosha.
Warning: Videos featured in this article contain NSFW (not safe for work) language.
On Friday, TMZ posted a different angle of the arrest, which appears to show an officer attempting to strike Sefolosha with a baton:
Sefolosha and teammate Pero Antic were arrested for allegedly interfering with officers at the scene of the Indiana Pacers' Chris Copeland's stabbing earlier in the week.
RealGM's Shams Charania reported that Sefolosha incurred an injury during the incident with police. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported Sefolosha also suffered ligament damage in addition to a fractured fibula and will require surgery.
The Hawks released a statement from coach Mike Budenholzer regarding the situation:
On April 10, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com reported that the NBPA said that they're doing their own investigation into the matter.
Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times provided additional details:
"One of the two Hawks team members who were arrested, Thabo Sefolosha, 30, an eight-year veteran from Switzerland, was arraigned on charges of resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct after he ran “in an aggressive manner” toward a police officer who had his back turned to Mr. Sefolosha, according to a criminal complaint. It took four officers to place Mr. Sefolosha in handcuffs, the complaint says.
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Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Antic and Sefolosha are due in court on June 18 and that the players announced they would contest the charges.
Vivlamore also had a quote from Antic, saying "We feel bad for the bad publicity that we brought to the Hawks organization, the Hawks family, not by our fault."
Sefolosha averaged 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game this year. According to NBA.com, Atlanta had a defensive rating of 95.3 when he was on the court, compared to 102.6 when he was off it.
As the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta will feel his absence the deeper it goes in the playoffs as its depth gets tested more and more.
