Thabo Sefolosha Found Not Guilty in Police Incident: Latest Details and Reaction
Atlanta Hawks guard Thabo Sefolosha was found not guilty on Oct. 9 on all charges against him relating to an incident outside a Manhattan nightclub in April.
Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirmed the jury's decision. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported the ruling opens the door for the 31-year-old NBA player to file a civil suit against the New York Police Department for causing serious injury while arresting him.
National Basketball Players Association director Michele Roberts sent along a message of support for the veteran:
Colin Moynihan of the New York Times reported Thursday that both sides in the case argued that false claims were being made about the incidents at the 1 Oak nightclub.
According to the report, police claimed Sefolosha and teammate Pero Antic were slow to leave the area where police were investigating the stabbing of Chris Copeland of the Indiana Pacers. Sefolosha's legal team argued he was falsely arrested; Sefolosha suffered a broken bone in his right leg during the arrest.
Now that he's been found not guilty, he can focus on getting back to full strength. Lindsey Adler of BuzzFeed News noted he still hasn't made a final decision about whether to file a lawsuit after he was forced to miss the playoffs with the injury.
Roberts said on Thursday the union would "aggressively support" Seflosha if he decided to sue the NYPD, via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
"He had a criminal case and we had to respect that," Roberts said, via Shelburne. "He now has a civil litigation if he wants to pursue it. I take my lead from him ... but all he has to do is turn me on and I'm gone. I can't even tell you how horrific the experience he had was. It was just dreadful."
At the time of the verdict, Bleacher Report's Danny Knobler also passed along some thoughts from Sefolosha:
The incident was the first of two high-profile arrests involving athletes and the NYPD this year. In September, former tennis star James Blake was charged and tackled outside a hotel. The Civilian Complaint Review Board stated this week that excessive force was used, per NBC New York.
Sefolosha has returned to practice but experienced leg pain late last month. It's still unclear when he'll be fully ready to play again. The Hawks open the regular season on Oct. 27 against the Detroit Pistons.
