Former Chicago Bulls star Ben Gordon has been released on bail after he was arrested for allegedly beating his 10-year-old son so hard that the child had to be hospitalized.
Gordon is also charged with assault and resisting arrest after appearing in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Gordon, 39, was arrested by airport police Monday night and his son Elijah was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital accompanied by his aunt, the New York Daily News reported.
His ex-girlfriend Ashley Banks denied hitting his son and accused a “curious Karen” of calling security when he just reprimanded the child.
Banks, who dated the former Chicago Bulls star until 2020, told the athlete was also doing push-ups with 10-year-old Elijah when guards found him and he was arrested.
The former NBA star was released on bail after his arrest for allegedly hitting his son so hard he had to be hospitalized
Former Chicago Bulls star Ben Gordon has been arrested at LaGuardia Airport after allegedly hitting his 10-year-old son so hard that the child had to be taken to the hospital
Gordon’s ex-girlfriend Ashley Banks, pictured, claims the athlete was “misunderstood” and “triggered” by an “airport karen”.
Ben Gordon is pictured at a Manhattan court hearing in March 2018, accused of driving with a fake license plate
Speaking to , Banks, who shares son Lux with Gordon, said: “Someone was curious. It was the kiosk lady. She was just a Karen. They got security and he got fired because he was with his son.
“My son’s father would never touch his children. He lives and breathes air for his three boys. It was the case when Karen tripped another black guy at the airport. She should be fired. He was just very upset.
“His son was not hurt, he was not bruised and is with his aunt. The lady started with them and called security and he got angry. The child is fine.
It’s just the latest collision with the law for the struggling sports star, who played with the Chicago Bulls from 2004-09 before joining the Detroit Pistons.
Gordon won the Sixth Man Award as a rookie with the Bulls in 2005, playing alongside Luol Deng.
He played two seasons with the Charlotte Bobcats and retired with the Orlando Magic in 2015.
Gordon’s problems began shortly after, and he has been open about his struggles with his mental health.
In 2020, in a powerful essay on The Player’s Tribune, he wrote: “There was a point where I thought about killing myself every day for about six weeks.
“It was right after my senior year in the league, and I was living in a brownstone up in Harlem.
“I had lost my career, my identity and my family pretty much at the same time. I was manic depressive. I have not eaten. I have not slept.
“And when I say I didn’t sleep, it was like a whole other level of insomnia. I woke up at the same time every night, like clockwork. And then the demons would come out.’
Gordon retired in 2015 and has been open about his mental health struggles ever since
The sports star is pictured in April 2011 while signed to the Detroit Pistons
Gordon was arrested multiple times in 2017 – first for allegedly driving with a fake driver’s license in New York, and then allegedly for punching the manager of an LA apartment complex.
Gordon allegedly pulled a knife on the man and took the money he said was his bail: he was then sentenced by the court to therapy.
In late October, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation following an incident involving a woman at a store he owns in Mount Vernon, New York.
Police called by the woman found Gordon locked in the store’s bathroom.
The woman told police that they got into an argument and he became physical, throwing and destroying things and then locked her in the store.
NBA player Gordon is pictured in court in New York City in March 2018 following a counterfeit license plate case
The Shop Of Our Own is a sports rehabilitation and recreation center.
“It got so bad they had to commit me to a psychiatric hospital and the problem was I didn’t even understand why it was happening,” Gordon wrote in his 2020 essay.
“It was like in the cinema. I’m in a white room and I’ve been strapped to a bed by doctors and nurses. They’ve got the smock on and the gloves on, and they’re sticking pins in my arms and cutting my pants off at the waist.
“It was terrifying.”
He said therapy helped immediately and pleaded for others to seek help.
The Port Authority Police Department has not commented on Gordon’s arrest.