The hoops hothead Barnes turned himself in at the 10th Precinct station house and was issued a desk appearance ticket for misdemeanor assault — stemming from a brouhaha at Avenue nightclub in the early morning hours of Dec. 5 in Chelsea.
Barnes was released without bail, and will have to show up in a Manhattan courtroom at a later date.
A desk ticket is a common procedure in misdemeanor cases.
Barnes and teammate DeMarcus Cousins were at the club together on Dec. 5 when the altercation broke out. Barnes will fight this, his attorney has claimed any actions by his client were in self-defense. Police say video of the incident reportedly shows Barnes as the aggressor and choking a woman. Cousins has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident by police. Both Barnes and Cousins have already been sued in civil court over the altercation. One of the plaintiffs in the case alleges Cousins punched him, something Cousins’ people have denied.
Almost certainly it will be the offseason before Barnes appears in court. Rarely do these cases head to a full trial, they are generally pled out.