Matt Barnes is wanted by the NYPD following an alleged nightclub assault
Matt Barnes is a wanted man again.
New York City police are seeking to question the Sacramento Kings wing over allegations he choked a woman in a nightclub early Monday morning, according to multiple reports. The New York Post cited witnesses who alleged Barnes also punched another woman and a man for attempting to intervene.
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TMZ published video after the alleged altercation of Barnes and teammate DeMarcus Cousins outside Avenue nightclub. Cousins can be seen holding and shaking his right hand, saying, “F***, man, I done f***ed my s*** up,” before adding, “The n**** was trying to choke Matt; I hit the s*** out this n****.”
A representative for Barnes told TMZ he was defending himself — and Cousins then came to his defense — when an exchange with another group of VIP clubgoers turned violent. Those details:
A rep for the NBA star tells us … Barnes was having a good time at Avenue Nightclub with his teammate, DeMarcus Cousins, when he went to sit at his VIP booth and accidentally “butt bumped” a woman who was at the next booth over.
Barnes claims the woman reacted by slapping him in the face, hard — and that’s when all hell broke loose.
Barnes claims the woman’s crew — which included several men — jumped in and began to get violent. Barnes was knocked to the ground in the melee and one of the men began to choke him.
We’re told Barnes got physical in an effort to protect himself. Cousins also jumped in to defend Barnes. In footage shot moments after the fight, Cousins references Barnes getting choked.
Barnes is probably best remembered for an alleged physical altercation with former teammate Derek Fisher in October 2015, when the 35-year-old veteran confronted the then-New York Knicks coach during Fisher’s visit with Barnes’ estranged wife, Gloria Govan, and the separated couple’s children.
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Barnes was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence against Govan in 2010 and again taken into police custody two years later for allegedly driving with a suspended license and resisting arrest. Knicks fans chanted “Derek Fisher” at Barnes during New York’s 106-98 win over the Kings on Sunday.
The incident took place after midnight roughly a mile from Madison Square Garden at Avenue, a nightclub that has hosted private events for Kim Kardashian, Derek Jeter and other celebrities, according to its website. Police received a 911 call about the alleged assault of two women and a man inside the club, per TMZ, and the Kings players reportedly left before officers arrived on scene.
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Suddenly, Barnes and Cousins celebrating their unexpected night off in Philadelphia last week with cheesesteaks and a bottle of Hennessy Cognac at the Wells Fargo Center does not seem so comical.
A video posted by Ball Don't Lie (@yahooballdontlie) on Dec 2, 2016 at 6:17am PST
Barnes and Cousins were also among the Kings players who hosted a panel last month for area youth at Sacramento’s Midtown Bayside Church promoting improved police-community relations. The 2010 domestic violence charges against Barnes were dropped, the felony 2012 resisting arrest charge was pleaded down to a misdemeanor, and he was not criminally charged in the Fisher incident last year.
Monday’s alleged altercation is merely the latest troubling news for a dysfunctional franchise that Cousins conceded had “got some in-house issues to figure out” a year ago — before the Kings signed free agents Barnes and Ty Lawson, who has four DUI arrests on his record, and before Sacramento starting point guard Darren Collison pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge in September.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
