Kevin Johnson, the NBA star turned Sacramento mayor, was involved in an altercation with a protester at a charity dinner on Wednesday night – which reportedly left the other man bloodied and in need of stitches around his eye.
Sean Thompson, 32, threw a pie in Johnson’s face at the event at Sacramento high school – and witnesses say Johnson responded by “repeatedly” punching the man in the face. Police confirmed Johnson did hit Thompson.
“The mayor did strike the suspect after he was assaulted,” police spokesman Bryce Heinlein said.
Johnson’s chief of staff, Crystal Strait, said the man came up, pulled the pie from a bag, grabbed Johnson and shoved in in his face. She said the mayor defended himself. “The mayor was assaulted. I was standing right there and I’m still pretty shaken up,” Strait said, speaking about three hours afterwards.
“Let me be clear, the mayor was assaulted tonight,” Strait told the Sacramento Bee. “He is home with his family. The whole thing is just shocking.”
Witnesses told the East Bay Express that after Thompson threw the pie, he said something to the mayor. Johnson, they said, tackled him and punched him in the face repeatedly, more than half a dozen times, landing five to 10 blows. One witness described it as a “bloody pulp”.
Thompson was arrested on a felony charge of assaulting a public official and misdemeanor charge of battery on school property. He was booked into the Sacramento county jail at midnight. Johnson has not been charged.
In a booking photo released by Sacramento police, Thompson appeared to have two sets of stitches around his left eye.
Police said: “During the assault, the subject sustained a minor injury and was transported by the Sacramento fire department to a local hospital for treatment.”
The mayor tweeted: “I’m doing fine. Thank you to Sac PD for being there.”
Police and Strait said Thompson was previously unknown to the mayor and his staff.
Johnson, an NBA all-star who spent a decade with the Phoenix Suns, has been Sacramento’s mayor since 2008, but announced last year that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election. His final two years in office have been rocked by the re-emergence of sexual assault allegations from a woman who was 15 when she and Johnson met.
Johnson has denied the allegations. Phoenix police investigated the allegations but did not file charges.
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