FEBRUARY 1: Barnes turned himself in to the NYPD today, according to Larry Celona of The New York Post. The Kings forward received a desk appearance ticket and was booked for misdemeanor assault before being released without bail. He’ll have to show up in a Manhattan courtroom at a later date.
As we passed along earlier this week, Cousins won’t face any criminal charges relating to the December incident.
JANUARY 27: Kings small forward Matt Barnes is expected to turn himself in as a result of misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a nightclub incident in early December, Rocco Parascandola of the New York Daily News reports. Barnes allegedly assaulted a woman at a Chelsea nightclub on December 5th.
Two people—Jasmine Besiso, a 26-year-old woman, and her boyfriend, Myrone Powell, a 35-year-old man—filed a federal lawsuit last month against Barnes and DeMarcus Cousins, claiming they were assaulted by the NBA players. Besiso said she was sitting with her boyfriend at a table adjacent to Barnes’ and claims she witnessed Barnes get into an altercation with another woman. Besiso claims that Barnes then suddenly appeared near her and began choking her until she was unconscious.
Powell’s lawyer claims Cousins sucker-punched Powell in the head when he tried to intervene. Powell was knocked to the floor at which time other members of Barnes’ entourage hit and stomped him, his lawyer claimed at the time. The claimants’ lawyer has since said that the investigation is taking “way too long” and he claims that his clients have not been kept abreast during the investigation.
Both Cousins and Barnes maintain their innocence. Police tell Parascandola that only Barnes will be charged and the 36-year-old is expected to travel to New York as early as next week.
Barnes is making slightly under $6.13MM this season and he holds a player option worth roughly $6.4MM for the 2017/18 campaign. It would be very surprising if he opts to turn that option down and hit the free agent market, given his current legal troubles.
trash
2017 NBA Man of the Year.
2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
Just 2 of the upcoming awards Barnes is in the running for this year.
BONEHEAD!!!!!!
Barnes has anxiety. The league should help him in the offseason in private. I hope he would accept that with open arms. I think he would like life a lot better.
Rich NBA player. Maybe it’s a shake down. We don’t know what really happened. I don’t watch Basketball, but I also don’t believe everything I read. Everyone is so quick to judge this guy.
Barnes should be in jail, but because he plays basketball he’s given a pass time and time again. This guy is the definition of garbage.
Barnes guilt or innocence is not the issue, he has shown he has anger management problems throughout his career, the DFish incident for example. Either way he needs help before getting killed for a beef with the wrong person.