Former NBA Star Ben Gordon Allegedly Punched Son In Face Multiple Times At Airport
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Former NBA star Ben Gordon was charged with assault after he allegedly struck his 10-year-old son in the face with a closed fist early Monday at LaGuardia Airport, Port Authority police told HuffPost.
His son was taken to a hospital for observation, according to Port Authority for New York and New Jersey.
Two officers suffered minor injuries in the encounter and Gordon was also charged with resisting arrest, police said.
An American Airlines employee said she saw Gordon, 39, punching the boy after he dropped a book, according to a criminal complaint cited by the New York Post on Wednesday. The same witness said he struck the boy “multiple times,” TMZ reported.
Ben Gordon, pictured in a 2010 game for the Detroit Pistons, played 11 seasons in the NBA. (Photo: Chris Elise via Getty Images)
According to reports, Gordon violated a protection order issued on behalf of his son.
The former guard, who at one point earned $10 million a season in his 11-year NBA career, did not post bail and spent the night at Rikers Island, the Post reported.
Gordon last played in the NBA in 2015 and averaged 14.9 points a game during his career, which was spent mostly with the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. He won a national championship while playing for the University of Connecticut.
While there, he was charged with assaulting a woman in a dormitory in 2003. He was granted probation.
Gordon has had more recent run-ins with the law as well. In 2017, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after he locked a woman in the bathroom of a business he owned in Mount Vernon, New York, according to ESPN.
The same year, he was arrested on a felony robbery charge for punching the manager of an apartment building where he rented and taking what he said was his security deposit, ESPN reported at the time.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
