NBA Union Looking Into NYPD Tactics After Hawks Player Fractures Bone During Chelsea Arrest

One of the two Atlanta Hawks players arrested early Wednesday after an ex-Knicks player was stabbed outside a popular Chelsea nightclub broke a bone while being detained by NYPD officers.

Thabo Sefolosha fractured his fibula and suffered ligament damage during the arrest outside 1OAK on West 17th Street Wednesday and will miss the rest of the team's season, the Hawks said.

Sefolosha and teammate Pero Antic were both arrested on obstructing governmental administration and other charges after they allegedly blocked police who were attempting to set up a crime scene after Pacers forward Chris Copeland was stabbed during a dispute outside the club. Both players have said they plan to fight the charges.

League sources told ESPN that the NBA players' union is looking into the arrests, which were captured on video that was later posted to the gossip website TMZ. The union said it is concerned about why Sefolosha's injury, apparently sustained during the arrest, went untreated overnight.

Photos of the pair walking out of a police precinct show Sefolosha wearing some sort of makeshift splint and was seen limping during a court appearance.

"The players' union is concerned about the circumstances of Thabo Sefolosha and Pero Antic's arrest and is doing its own investigation of the situation," NBPA spokeswoman Tara Greco told ESPN. "The union was fully engaged in supporting all three players in court and in the precinct this week, and will continue to stay engaged as each situation evolves."

Sefolosha and Antic were both in town for a game later that day against the Nets; Copeland and the Pacers were set to play the Knicks. Antic said Friday that they weren't at the nightclub with Copeland.

"We don't have nothing to do with what happened with that," Antic said. "We weren't together. We didn't even see the guy and whatever happened, happened way before."

Copeland meanwhile, continues to recover at Bellevue Hospital. He was stabbed in the abdomen and elbow after leaving the nightclub with girlfriend Katrine Saltara, who was also stabbed.

Police arrested 22-year-old Shevoy Bleary on assault and weapons possession charges in the attack. 

Sources tell NBC 4 New York that Copeland and Saltara were arguing outside the club when a woman approached and tried to intervene. Copeland then began arguing with Bleary, who also walked up to them, and Saltara and the other woman tried to break up the fight. 

That's when Bleary allegedly pulled out a knife and started slashing people, cutting the 31-year-old basketball player, his girlfriend and the other woman, believed to be a friend of Bleary's.

The second woman was stabbed in the chest and the abdomen; she needed 22 stitches. Bleary allegedly told investigators he had tried to push the woman who was with him away and she ended up getting slashed. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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