Charles Oakley has pleaded that he was innocent since he was ejected by security from Madison Square Garden and promptly arrested last year. It was an incident that didn't help fans' relationship with the owner of the New York Knicks.
In new court papers that the New York Daily News obtained, it now appears that Knicks owner James Dolan was the one who called for the ejection and that Oakley wasn't actually doing anything wrong in the moments before he was confronted.
WATCH: Footage appears to show #Knicks owner James Dolan ordering MSG security guards to assault and violently eject former NBA All-Star Charles Oakley from @TheGarden. – via @NYDailyNews https://t.co/fklfNDABB4 pic.twitter.com/5ZtL2drY5p
— WigdorLaw (@WigdorLaw) May 24, 2018
As shown in the video above, James Dolan gives security the thumbs up, and it appears that the ejection was more of a case of bad beef, rather than Oakley actually doing something that warranted him being ejected. In the papers filed by his lawyers they said:
“From the moment he takes his seat Mr. Oakley can be seen laughing and casually interacting with fans. Nowhere is there evidence that he was acting as belligerently as (Dolan and MSG) falsely claim,” papers submitted by Wigdor read.
“During a stoppage in play, Defendant Dolan can be seen summoning a security guard and speaking to him at length. … Within seconds of Defendant Dolan's gesture, the security guard gathered other security personnel who proceeded to surround Mr. Oakley and throw him out of the Arena.”
The Madison Square Garden Company has since responded this statement regarding the incident:
“Today’s claims are nothing more than Oakley’s latest attempt to distract from the real reasons why he was ejected. We like the videos – they show what actually happened, which is why Oakley’s lawyer continues to fight to exclude them from the court case. As opposed to the edited and manipulated video posted by Oakley’s counsel, we filed the entire unedited video with the Court months ago. As we’ve stated before, we believe this suit has no merit and should be dismissed.”
Oakley and his legal team have filed a lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and James Dolan, and from this video, it sure appears that he has a case.
Charles Oakley was originally charged with assault from the incident but the charges were dropped with a deal that he stayed out of trouble for six months, and away from Madison Square Garden for a year.
Article updated with statement from MSG company.
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