NBA star says NY police ‘looked for reason’ to arrest him

Swiss NBA player Thabo Sefolosha told a New York court Thursday that police were “looking for a reason” to arrest him, on the third day of his trial for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Lawyers for the Atlanta Hawks forward maintain that New York police officers who arrested him earlier this year outside a Manhattan nightclub handled him so aggressively that they broke his leg.

Lawyers for the player and Sefolosha, who is black, have cast the incident as another case of overzealous police handling of black men in the United States.

Police say Sefolosha was belligerent and that he called an officer a midget, and prosecutors argue that he did not obey orders to clear a crime scene.

The incident took place in the early hours of April 8, moments after another pro player, Chris Copeland, was knifed on his way out of the same club.

“They were looking for a reason to arrest me,” said Sefolosha, 31, rejecting claims that he disobeyed police orders. “I moved when they asked me to move.”

“They didn’t give orders,” he added.

“I’m not someone that has been arrested before. I didn’t know what to do.”

Sefolosha suffered ligament damage in the incident that required surgery as well as months of rest that he says made him miss the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Sefolosha has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.