Shaq's first and only assist - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Ninkobei · 09-13-2005, 09:37 PM

How scary would running from and having Shaq tackle you be??

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Shaq Assists Police in Arrest of Man Accused of Assaulting Gay Couple
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Sep 13, 4:36 PM (ET)

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Shaquille O'Neal provided an assist to police over the weekend, trailing a man who allegedly assaulted a gay couple before alerting an arresting officer.

The 7-foot-1 Miami Heat center, who is in the process of becoming a Miami Beach reserve officer, was driving on South Beach around 3 a.m. Sunday. He saw a passenger in a car yell anti-gay slurs at the couple, who were walking, said Bobby Hernandez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department.

The man then got out of the car and threw a bottle, hitting one of the pedestrians, who was not seriously hurt. The man got back in the car, which sped off. O'Neal followed, flagging down an officer who made an arrest, Hernandez said.

Michael Gonzalez, 18, was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon. The driver of the car was not charged.

O'Neal, who hopes to be a police chief or county sheriff one day, was already being fitted for his Miami Beach police uniform before he helped the police out.

"For this incident I don't want to be credited as an individual who does police work," O'Neal said in a statement. "I want to be credited as a Miami Beach police officer."

JLEEHASMUCHGAME · 09-13-2005, 10:15 PM

"For this incident I don't want to be credited as an individual who does police work," O'Neal said in a statement. "I want to be credited as a Miami Beach police officer."

You got to love the man for quotes like these.

Drbio · 09-13-2005, 10:47 PM

I'd be more impressed had he not knocked a fan cold at a party this week. Assault or self defense? Hard to imagine a 7 footer needing to knock out a five foot five fan for any reason, but I admittedly do not know all of the information.

I posted a thread in the Around the NBA section about the report if you want to read it.

Click here to see that thread.

Murphy3 · 09-14-2005, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Drbio
I'd be more impressed had he not knocked a fan cold at a party this week. Assault or self defense? Hard to imagine a 7 footer needing to knock out a five foot five fan for any reason, but I admittedly do not know all of the information.

I posted a thread in the Around the NBA section about the report if you want to read it.

Click here to see that thread.

You'd be surprised at how often some of the larger guys get attacked by smaller people when drunk. Routinely while out in Denton with some of my UNT football buddies, they'd get shoved or someone would want to pick a fight... One of my better friends back in the day had a 5'5 'cowboy' start a fight with him for no reason...but, my friend 'Big Whig' is 6'6-7 and about 375 pounds. It wasn't much of a 'fight'. But, it was self defense.

JLEEHASMUCHGAME · 09-15-2005, 02:13 PM

Yeah, but those big guys throwing their weight around in fights should be careful. I'm pretty sure some of the punches those guys can throw can end up being pretty lethal. Shaq throwing hooks at my head has to be up there on my list of nightmare scenerios. But yeah, everyone has the right to defend themselves, if attacked.