NYPD Injury Caused Atlanta Hawks' Thabo Sefolosha to Miss Playoffs: Claim
Little coverage by sports press.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Atlanta Hawks out of the NBA playoffs, but the absence of one player, Swiss national Thabo Sefolosha, wasn't mentioned during the game or in most of the write ups. The shooting guard was ruled out for the season in April after fracturing his fibula during an encounter with New York City police outside a nightclub. Police accused Sefolosha of preventing them from establishing a crime scene after another basketball player, Chris Copeland, was stabbed. Sefolosha and another Hawks' player, Pero Antic were charged with obstruction of justice.
Video obtained by TMZ Sports shows up to six officers pulling Sefolosha in different directions and one of them hitting him with a night stick. Sefolosha blamed police for the injury, and is contesting the charges. The Nation has a long piece on why the sports media ignored the Sefolosha story, especially given the role he'd play in possibly preventing a playoff sweep by the Cavaliers, but it's short on answers. No one cares about the Hawks? Sefolosha's not a big enough name? Neither white nor black sports columnists want to take the risk of writing about a polarizing issue? A vice president at ESPN told The Nation the "story… deserves greater illumination, which means information, not mere discussion." Perish the thought that ESPN runs mere discussions.
Watch one of the videos of the incident, via TMZ Sports, below: