Former NBA star Latrell Sprewell was arrested on New Year’s Eve and charged with disorderly conduct after Milwaukee police received several phone calls about loud music coming from his residence, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Tuesday.
Police declined to give explicit details about the incident, but responded to Sprewell’s house after receiving two complaints within one hour Monday afternoon. This is not the first time that neighbors have complained about the volume of his music over the last several of months.
The 42-year-old Sprewell spent 13 seasons in the NBA before retiring after the 2004-05 season. He played for the Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks.
Sprewell is best known for his choking incident with current Brooklyn Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo, when both men were with Warriors during the 1997 season.
Sprewell was suspended by NBA commissioner David Stern for 82 games, but an arbitrator reduced his suspension to 68 games. Sprewell’s suspension hit his pockets hard, as he lost $6.4 million and a shoe deal with Converse.
The Milwaukee native felt the extensive punishment was too harsh at the time. He claimed being African-American distorted the public’s view on the attack.
“I want people to know that I’m not a bad guy,” Sprewell told 60 Minutes. “I never said I shouldn’t be punished for what I did. We just said the punishment was excessive.”
Monday’s arrest, however, was not the Sprewell’s first encounter with the police.
He was arrested in December 2006 for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend Candace Cabbil at their home in upstate New York. He refused to let police into the home, which resulted in a 90-minute standoff.
A judge ordered Sprewell to stay way from Cabbil and their children immediately after the incident, but charges were later dropped against him.
Sprewell may have wished that he did not turn down the three-year, $21 million contract the Timberwolves offered him after the 2004 season because his $1.5 million yacht was auctioned off by U.S. marshals in 2007. He also had one of his homes foreclosed on in 2008. In 2011, Sprewell made Wisconsin’s top “tax deadbeats” list owing the state $3.5 million in unpaid income taxes.
Milwakuee police have referred Monday’s arrest to the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office for a further investigation.
