CNN reports that NBA star Allen Iverson launched an expletive-ridden tirade against police when a car belonging to him was pulled over for a traffic violation last week.
As the story goes, Iverson was riding in the passenger seat of a grey Lamborghini that police pulled over when the driver changed lanes without signaling.
Antwuan Clisby, who was behind the wheel, couldn't produce any documentation for the vehicle, the police report says. It adds that Iverson became "irate" when the officer said he couldn’t leave the car to eat dinner until the investigation was complete.
The car turned out to belong to Iverson and have tags that had expired in 2009. When he learned that it would be towed, the report says Iverson responded, "Take the vehicle, I have 10 more," adding, "Police don't have anything else [expletive] to do except [expletive] with me." He then reportedly spent 20 minutes on the topic of "Do you know who I am?" and ended with the zinger, "I make more money than you will in 10 years."
There's a serious conversation going on about whether the original stop (involving a minor violation by a really nice car with two African-American men in it) was a case of "driving while black." But none of Iverson's reported fussing had anything to do with that. And it's hard to muster up a lot of sympathy for a guy whose words suggest that he sees the biggest social issue here as not "driving while black" but “having to follow the same rules as everyone else while being an NBA player.” Cue world's smallest violin.
To his credit, Iverson returned to apologize for his behavior. According to the police report, "He stated he was just upset about his car." (Wait, what happened to "I have 10 more"?)
Replace "car" with "ego," and his explanation sounds about right.
Read more at CNN.
In other news: Don Cheadle Comedy 'House of Lies' Headed to Showtime.
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