NEW YORK — A white police officer singled out a black professional basketball player as he filed out of a trendy nightclub this year, sparking a confrontation that resulted in the player’s arrest and a season-ending leg fracture, a defense lawyer told jurors Tuesday.
“I don’t know what he saw,” attorney Alex Spiro said of the officer, JohnPaul Giacona, who first told the Atlanta Hawks’ Thabo Sefolosha to clear the area early on April 8. “I think he saw a black man in a hoodie.”
Sefolosha, 30, has been charged with misdemeanor obstructing government administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He pleaded not guilty and refused a plea deal.
But a prosecutor said Tuesday that the 6-foot-6-inch Sefolosha acted entitled and disdainful to officers trying to clear hundreds of people off a street following an earlier stabbing outside the club by calling the 5-foot-7-inch Giacona “a midget.”
“The defendant does not think he needs to obey the law,” assistant district attorney Jesse Matthews said. “He does not like being told what to do.”