FORMER NBA player and now Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson tackled and punched a protester who threw a pie at his face on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time) during a charity dinner.
Advertisement
Johnson, a former National Basketball Association star, was speaking at a dinner for Seeds of HOPE at a charter school in the city when 32-year-old Sean Thompson struck the mayor in the face with a pie, authorities say. According to multiple accounts from the East Bay Express, Johnson was hit in the face with a pie that had whipped cream and toppings on it, and then the protestor said something to Johnson that prompted the former National Basketball Association star to tackle the pie thrower and hit him with multiple punches to the face.
Police arrested 32-year-old Sean Thompson and held him on $100,000 bail for assaulting a public official.
Police said Thompson received minor injuries.
Former NBA All-Star and now Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson received humilation from an activist while attending an event.
“There were some punches thrown, and then the subject was quickly taken to the ground by one of the officers that is on the mayor’s security detail” and some event attendees, Heinlein said.
The chief of staff said it was a serious and scary situation and there was nothing amusing about it, especially because no one, including the mayor, could tell immediately that it was a pie the man was holding. Some applauded Johnson for standing up against the man who attacked him, while others argued that the mayor’s forceful response had gone too far.
In this climate of national division along racial lines a trashy white guy assaulting a respect black mayor in front of hundreds of people just isn’t a good look. Johnson’s spokeswoman Crystal Strait told the Sacramento Bee that the mayor “hit Thompson back”.
“Jail sucks”, Thompson said at the time. Eyewitnesses said Thompson walked up to Johnson toward the end of the dinner when the incident happened.
After cleaning up, Johnson spoke again to calm nerves at the event, which was held in the school’s garden and featured numerous city’s top restaurateurs.
Johnson’s signature achievement in office was getting a $500 million arena built for the city’s National Basketball Association team the Sacramento Kings. A police report has yet to be filed, Miller reported.
Advertisement
Johnson has both denied the allegations and denied that they had anything to do with his decision to leave office.
