Thabo Sefolosha Details Encounter with NYPD in Exclusive GQ Interview
Atlanta Hawks swingman Thabo Sefolosha, who missed out on the team's playoff run last season after suffering a broken leg following an encounter with the New York Police Department, revealed his side of the story Thursday.
In an exclusive first-person story told to Nathaniel Penn of GQ (Warning: Contains NSFW language), Sefolosha detailed the April incident outside of a nightclub in New York.
Per the New York Daily News, Sefolosha and his teammate, Pero Antic, were arrested.
Sefolosha talked about officers ordering people to leave the club around 4:15 a.m., including one who said, "Get the hell out!" He responded by asking the officer to talk in a more suitable manner, saying, "You are the police, but you don't have to act like you're the toughest guy on earth."
Sefolosha did admit to saying "you're a midget, and you're mad" while acknowledging that he kept walking, which was followed by this description:
"I was just getting into a livery cab—one of the cops opened the door and said, "Get out of here"—when a homeless man asked me for money. I took out twenty bucks. When I made a few steps toward the guy, an officer said, "You're going to jail." Pero tapped the officer on the shoulder and said, "Relax, he didn't do anything." Another officer pushed him in the chest and he fell. That's what the first YouTube video showed—him on the floor.
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After that, Sefolosha claimed there were two police officers who grabbed him by either arm and a third who grabbed him on the back of the neck, causing him to fall on the ground. He then described how his leg was injured:
"Somebody kicked my leg, more than once, from the back to force me to the ground. I knew something had happened as soon as they did it; I'm an athlete, so I know how my body should feel. They were stepping on my foot, too, I guess to try to keep me there. I didn't feel like there was anything I could do to calm it down. I tried to show them I was cooperating. I tried.
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On Oct. 9, Sefolosha was found not guilty on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration.
In an interview with ESPN's Hannah Storm (via ESPN.com) on Monday, the 31-year-old said he was going to file a civil lawsuit as a result of the incident: "There's a lot of unknown about how this will affect me two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now. Also because I think it's the right approach to put lights in a situation like this and to ... fight back in a legal way and in a way that can empower, hopefully, more people."
Sefolosha, a 10-year NBA veteran, did make his return to Atlanta's lineup Wednesday in the season opener and scored two points in just under 19 minutes.
Cases of police brutality have become more prominent in the last few years, including a September incident with former tennis player James Blake being taken to the ground in a mistaken arrest.
Sefolosha said in the GQ interview that he is taking on a powerful system, but he feels compelled to do it because "there should be some sort of consequences for those officers for breaking my leg."
