Atlanta Hawks Player Broke Ankle During NYC Arrest, Out for Season

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The Atlanta Hawks are playoff bound, but one of their players will have to spend the rest of the season on the bench.

WSB-TV reports that Thabo Sefolosha suffered a broken ankle during a scuffle with New York City police when he was arrested along with fellow Hawk Pero Antic on Wednesday morning. The broken ankle will keep Sefolosha out for the rest of the season, the station says.

The two players were arrested charged with obstruction after refusing to allow police to secure a crime scene at the 1 OAK Club in Chelsea, 11 Alive News reports. The Hawks were in New York to take on the Nets on Wednesday night.

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Police say that Indiana Pacers player Chris Copeland and his wife were arguing outside the nightclub at approximately 4 a.m. when another group of people got involved, CBS Atlanta reports. One of those people, 22-year-old Shezoy Bleary, allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Copeland in the abdomen. Bleary is also accused of stabbing Copeland’s wife in the arm and slashing her across the breast and buttocks.

In the aftermath of the incident, Atlanta Hawks Coach Mike Budenholzer released the following statement:

The events of this morning involving Pero and Thabo were unfortunate as we never want to see our players put themselves in a potentially negative situation. We will continue to look into the facts of the incident but with the information and foundation that we currently have established, we will support them through this process. Otherwise it is a continuing legal matter and I will have no further comment.

Antic and Sefolosha spoke in their own defense, releasing a joint statement which said:

As members of the Atlanta Hawks, we hold ourselves to a high standard and take our roles as professionals very seriously. We will contest these charges and look forward to communicating the facts of the situation at the appropriate time. We apologize to our respective families, teammates, and the Hawks organization for any negative attention this incident has brought upon them. We are unable to provide further comment as this is an ongoing legal matter.