Ball in Europe reader Kristian has sent us a story about two US born players that have been in a fight with the local Spanish police in Tenerife.
According to MenceyesBasket.com, Tenerife Rural (LEB Gold) players Antwain Barbour and Gimel Lewis got into a fight with local police in the morning hours of Saturday the 5th of January.
After a discussion with a girl in a pub in La Laguna, a police officer who wore no official clothes which could have identified him as one, asked the players about what happened in the pub. Both players refused to talk when the officer, who was accompanied by his brother and a friend started to use racial slurs and terms like "Niggers and Africans" towards both American ballers. Barbour who was urinating against a wall turned around and urinated on the police officer and his company. Things got out of the hand when Lewis and Barbour tried to drive home with their car and the police officer punched Barbour in the face. Barbour dropped off and started to fight back to all three of them.
Suddenly, police rushed in and hit both players with nightsticks to the ground. They handcuffed them and kept beating Gimel Lewis on his head that suffered an open wound and had to be taken to the hospital. Both players where hold remained in custody for a couple of hours and were released around noon.
It must be noted, that team-mate Kiril Wachsmann is a witness of the whole, as he was at the scene during all the time without interfering any of the actions and therefore wasn’t charged by the police.
Lewis and Barbour are facing two to four years in prison or could be sent out of the country if convicted. A lesser charge would be to pay a sum of money or be expulsed of the country for some time.
At least, the situation seemed to not have affected both players that much as they could play with their team this Friday. And Antwain Barbour looked particularly motivated as he scored incredible 37pts in a road win against La Palma.
