It’s one of those things they have to now cover at the NBA’s rookie symposium, but a lesson James Harden may have forgotten:
You can’t grab someone’s phone away if they are taking pictures you don’t like if it’s in a public place. Nor can you slap it out of their hand. Or anything along those lines.
We don’t know that reigning NBA MVP Harden actually did that, but he is alleged to have in a police report for an incident outside a Scottsdale, Arizona, club. TMZ has the details:James Harden has been named in a police report filed by a woman who claims she was roughed up by the NBA star at a Scottsdale nightclub -- and she has video.
The woman claims she was partying at Mint nightclub on Saturday morning when she claims a member of Harden’s entourage got involved in a fight -- and when James noticed she was recording, he grabbed her wrist and snatched her phone before throwing it on the roof so she couldn’t sell the footage to TMZ....
The woman claims Harden threw her phone on the roof of the club, and then a member of Harden’s crew came up to her and offered her $200 for the phone. She took the money, and then she says Harden came up to her and handed her another $300.
This is all alleged, nothing proven, and is still being investigated by police. Scottsdale police confirmed that as of now Harden is not a suspect.
Harden allegedly hit a phone out of a heckler’s hands in Utah after a playoff game this season, however, the league investigated and did not fine Harden for the incident. That was also different, it was in an arena after a game.
For this new case, the law is well defined — if something is happening in a public space, people have a right to take pictures or video of it. Get in a fight on the street outside a nightclub, that is fair game.
