Thabo Sefolosha had his leg broken by New York City police officers during a wrongful arrest last April. The injury kept Sefolosha off the basketball court for months, but the damage inflicted that night wasn't only physical.
Thabo Sefolosha reveals the full story about his wrongful arrest
In an interview with GQ, Sefolosha opened up about the emotional damage caused when he was arrested and injured by the NYPD for no reason.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
“I had nightmares. I would wake up sweating in the middle of the night,” Sefolosha told GQ in an exclusive interview. “I was dreaming not necessarily of that exact moment but more of the whole feeling about it—half scared, half nervous. It felt like I had been just one wrong move away from something much more serious happening.”
Sefolosha's account of the situation is powerful and should be read in full. He recounts that he was standing along with other people outside a club after the police shut it down following the stabbing of NBA player Chris Copeland. The Hawks' swingman said a police officer approached him and told him to "get the hell out!" to which he responded that the officer could ask nicely.
Sefolosha and then-teammate Pero Antic moved, but the same officer kept asking them to leave, leading to a quick exchange. Sefolosha told the officer “you are the police, but you don’t have to act like you’re the toughest guy on earth,” to which the officer replied that “with or without a badge” he could “fuck [Sefolosha] up.” Sefolosha says he kept moving and following orders, but acknowledges he told the officer “you’re a midget, and you’re mad.”
After that, “six or seven” other police officers approached Sefolosha and told him to leave the scene. He was getting into a cab but stopped to give a homeless person some money. That’s when the police converged on him. Sefolosha claims he wasn’t resisting arrest and was just trying to put his money back in his pocket, but one officer still repeatedly kicked his leg to get him to the ground, breaking it. Another took out his baton and swung it down on Sefolosha while he was on the ground.
He was arrested and taken to the station along with Antic before being released 12 hours later. He then went to a Brooklyn Nets doctor for X-rays that showed his injury. He ended up missing the playoffs and rehabbing for most of the offseason.
Again, hearing Sefolosha recount what happened that night in his own words is powerful. The story is the same that he told a jury and the media for months, but the amount of detail makes it all the more chilling, especially after the verdict that exonerated him of any wrongdoing. He is now considering a civil suit against the NYPD.
Sefolosha is clearly still scarred by what happened and he has every right to be. A minor incident turned into physical harm and temporal damage to his reputation and his career thanks to police brutality. But the worst part might be the feeling of powerlessness, as he said in his closing remarks to GQ.
”In a situation like this, you are helpless. If there’s six people jumping me outside of the club, I scream, “Police, police!” If the police are doing this to me, who you want me to turn to?”
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