Minnesota Timberwolves Center Arrested at Indianapolis Club

[Randercity]

Minnesota Timberwolves Center Arrested at Indianapolis Club

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Timberwolves center Michael Olowokandi was arrested early Thursday morning after he refused to leave a club.
Police officers used a stun gun to subdue Olowokandi, 29, and take him into custody at about 3 a.m. after he refused to leave Tiki Bob's, said Indianapolis Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Staletovich.

Olowokandi was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, both misdemeanors, Staletovich said.

Olowokandi was held overnight in an Indianapolis jail and released Thursday afternoon on his own recognizance. The Timberwolves were in Indianapolis to play the Indiana Pacers later Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Staletovich said the club's manager asked police, who were investigating another call, to help him get the 7-foot Olowokandi to leave. He refused, and police shocked him twice with a stun gun until he complied and they took him into custody.


The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Thursday with Timberwolves spokesman Paul Thompson.

Olowokandi is averaging 5.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Timberwolves this season.

 

[mjalam]

wow..what is wrong with these athletes? sad, wonder what kg is thinking

 

[Oak3]

And with the recent incidents, wouldn't you think they would all be on their best behavior.

 

[bsucards]

any word if he is going play?

 

[bsucards]

Michael Olowokandi, a center on the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team, was released from jail about 2 p.m. today after his arrest early this morning at a Downtown Indianapolis club.

Indianapolis Police Department officers confronted Olowokandi, 29, after he refused to leave Tiki Bob's Cantina at its 3 a.m. closing time, said Sgt. Stephen Staletovich, an Indianapolis Police Department spokesman. After using a Taser to subdue the 7-foot-tall player, officers arrested him on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, both misdemeanors.



Michael Olowokandi
The center was suspended by the team for Thursday night's game against the Indiana Pacers for "conduct detrimental to the team," Timberwolves general manager Jim Stack said in a statement.

He was released on his own recognizance this afternoon from the Arrestee Processing Center.

When Olowokandi refused to leave Tiki Bob's, 231 S. Meridian St., the manager alerted an officer who was responding to an unrelated situation in the same block of Meridian Street, Staletovich said.

"Mr. Olowokandi was given several opportunities to leave," Staletovich said, but he resisted physically and argued. According to the police report, he told officers "he was not done." When Olowokandi said he needed to get his sweatshirt, the police spokesman said, one of the officers pointed out he was wearing it.

Olowokandi left Tiki Bob's after an officer used a Taser to deliver an electric shock to his right arm and then another five-second shock to subdue him, the report says.

"The second time, the individual was taken to the ground," Staletovich said, and officers Dean Fischer and Cedric Young arrested him.

The police report says a friend was with Olowokandi inside the club and had encouraged him to leave.

It was not known this afternoon whether Olowokandi had been drinking before the episode. The report does not cite public intoxication among the preliminary charges.

Disorderly conduct is a Class B misdemeanor, and the more serious criminal trespassing charge is a Class A misdemeanor.


from www.indystar.com