Ben Gordon, a former Chicago Bulls star, was detained after being accused of hitting his 10-year-old son so severely that the boy had to be taken to the hospital. Gordon was later released on bail.
Gordon appeared in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday and was later charged with assault and resisting arrest.
According to the New York Daily News, Gordon, 39, was detained by airport police on Monday night and his son Elijah was taken with his aunt to Long Island Jewish Hospital.
Ashley Banks, his ex-girlfriend, denied that he hit his son and accused a “nosy Karen” of making the security call when he had only reprimanded the child.
Banks told DailyMail.com that the athlete was performing push-ups with 10-year-old Elijah when security officers swooped in and arrested him. Banks dated the former Chicago Bulls star until 2020.
Banks, who has a son named Lux with Gordon, said to DailyMail.com: “Someone was being nosy.” It was the cashier. It was just Karen being Karen. He became agitated because he was with his son and they had security.
“The father of my son would never touch his childs.” For his three boys, he breathes life into them. Another black man had been set off by Karen at the airport. She needs to be let go. Simply put, he was furious.
His son is with his aunt and wasn’t hurt or bruised. He was becoming agitated as the lady started talking to them and called security. The child is alright.
The troubled athlete, who played for the Chicago Bulls from 2004 to 2009 before switching to the Detroit Pistons, has had run-ins with the law before.
As a rookie with the Bulls in 2005, Gordon shared the court with Luol Deng and won the Sixth Man Award.
He spent two seasons with the Charlotte Bobcats before concluding his playing career in 2015 with the Orlando Magic.
Soon after, Gordon started having problems, and he has been candid about his battles with his mental health.
He penned the following moving essay on The Player’s Tribune in 2020: “There was a time when I contemplated suicide every single day for roughly six weeks.
I was residing in a brownstone up in Harlem at the time, immediately following my final season in the league.
“I had pretty much lost everything at once—my family, my identity, and my career.” I had bipolar disorder. I didn’t eat. I wasn’t dozing off.
And when I say I wasn’t sleeping, I really mean I wasn’t sleeping at all. I would consistently awaken at the same time each night. The demons would then emerge at that time.
In 2017, Gordon was detained more than once, first for allegedly using a fake license to drive in New York and later for reportedly assaulting the management of an apartment building in Los Angeles.
Gordon reportedly drew a knife on the guy and stole the cash he claimed to be his security deposit; as a consequence, the court ordered him to get counseling.
He received a mental examination mandate in late October as a result of an altercation with a lady in the Mount Vernon, New York, shop he owns.
Gordon was discovered confined in the store’s restroom after police were called by the lady.
He became violent during their disagreement, throwing and breaking objects before shutting her inside the business, the lady said to the police.
The “Of Our Own” shop serves as a healing and rehabilitation facility for athletes.
In his 2020 essay, Gordon said, “It became so terrible that they had me taken to a mental institution, and the trouble was that I didn’t even comprehend why it was happening.”
“Like in the movies,” someone said. I’m in a white room with nurses and physicians tying me to a bed. They are taking off the bottoms of my jeans and inserting needles in my arms while wearing scrubs and gloves.
It was frightening,
He argued that others should get treatment and claimed that the therapy had already benefited.
Regarding Gordon’s arrest, the Port Authority police department has not issued a statement.