04/23/24
March 17, 2005
Guilty of Stupidity on All Counts: Charlie Haddad, 21, was sentenced today to two years probation, 10 weekends of supervised community service, 100 hours of additional community service, substance abuse and anger management classes, and $1,040 in fines. His crime? Confronting athletes on the court during the Pistons-Pacers basketbrawl, which got his face punched by both Ron Artest and Jermaine O'Neal. Haddad has filed a civil suit alleging injuries to his head, neck, and back.
posted by rcade to basketball at 09:58 AM - 15 comments
Your thinking of the guys in the seats, daddisamm... Its my understanding that Haddad and Shackleford were the guys that ran out on the court, they had a good smack coming. I hope that they see that in the civil suits, that they ran out there on to the court for that reason and assumed the risk of getting smacked up...it will settle maybe, but I don't think they should give those two a cent, they shouldn't settle it.
posted by chris2sy at 11:38 AM on March 17, 2005
Yeah - that seems appropriate to me. Pick up trash by the highway, go back to school. Jail time seems a bit harsh to me for taking a punch to the face. And absolutely there will be no cash settlement. If anything wasn't the guy tresspassing?
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:11 PM on March 17, 2005
Not actually trespassing, W-Mac, but Michigan does have an ordinance about spectators violating a stage or field of play, which was one of the charges.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:14 PM on March 17, 2005
those guys gettin a settlement would be stupid as fans we overreacted stupid but u gotta be smart to get on the court to act like that a player has the right to hit a fan by my book b/c if u goin go on the court when two players from different teams are at each other it dont give us the right to provoke the players. the only time i think a fan should go on the court if hes allowed by officials r the team won the championship finals to celebrate with them. yea we pay good money but theres some kind of respect. and i still dont blame artest to beat the guy ass even though he had nothin to do with the cup b/c he still stand up like he was goin to do something. and furthermore, even though im not pacer fan but the players should serve just community service instead of bein suspended for the rest of the season or at least fined him about 600,000 for it so he could think twice next time. if randy moss could be fined for a fake mooning so the nba could fined allot for the real thing.
posted by dhdefrag3x at 01:43 PM on March 17, 2005
This civil suit stuff is a joke. Haddad is just trying to get some money out of an NBA player. Problem is, if Haddad hadn't violated the law by marching onto the court, he wouldn't have gotten "injured." The march and the punch just offset each other. Haddad should get squat.
posted by roberts at 05:11 PM on March 17, 2005
Haddad seemed like he was wanting to brawl as soon as he reached the floor. Looked like he got scared when he went down to the floor, cause he flinched , witch made him more noticable from the players view.
posted by hayes at 06:04 PM on March 17, 2005
I'm curious -- what part of the arena did Haddad come from during the melee? I'm thinking that if he was near where Artest came charging into the stands, he could claim he went onto the court to evade an obviously crazed NBA players and therefore, no trepassing. Maybe they covered this already in the court proceedings and I missed it, but I don't think any of these three is bright enough to muster that defense on his own.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:35 AM on March 18, 2005
I'm thinking that if he was near where Artest came charging into the stands, he could claim he went onto the court to evade an obviously crazed NBA players and therefore, no trepassing. It might be possible, a necessity defense of sorts. I think they violated Auburn Hills Code Sec. 10-26...additionally, and relevant to the initial cup throw, Sec. 10-29 prohibits the throwing of beverage containers too...the enactment of the ordinances, not surprisingly, coincides with the building of the Palace there circa 1988.
posted by chris2sy at 09:29 AM on March 18, 2005
If you do the crime, do the time. Stop whinning!
posted by dkrueg at 10:05 AM on March 18, 2005
I suspect that Haddad could have made the necessity argument if he hadn't sought out and confronted players before being fed a fist sandwich. There probably were fans who went onto the court to evade the melee and have not been charged.
posted by rcade at 11:00 AM on March 18, 2005
I suspect that Haddad could have made the necessity argument if he hadn't sought out and confronted players before being fed a fist sandwich. Yeah, exactly. I think he'd have an uphill battle trying to prove something like that...on the tape doesn't it show him coming up and yelling something at O'Neal prior to the smackdown...like he ran on to the court to get at the Pacers, not to flee the brawl but to join in. He could have been yelling "don't punch me" or "no mas"...but I don't think so. He could argue it, but its likely a losing argument.
posted by chris2sy at 11:51 AM on March 18, 2005
WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING ON THE COURT?! What a dumbass!
posted by damned yankee at 06:45 PM on March 18, 2005
He will also have to live with the ignominy of having to see himself getting annihilated by Jermaine O'Neal everytime they run a greatest brawls thing on TV. All time great hit. What a moron.
posted by Bonkers at 09:08 PM on March 18, 2005
Will anyone consider finacing this business opportunity? Let's place Haddad's fat-ass face on heavy bags, and sell them. It will make millions. After all, he's the definitive poster child for getting a public serving of royal whoop ass! I think Artest and O'Neal got their just due, but man oh man, what a beautiful punch by O'Neal. Had O'Neal's left (anchor) foot not slipped, that corpulent troll Haddad would just be waking up right now. Is it just me, or does Haddad remind anyone of Larry Mondello, that fat, whiny friend of The Beaver's on Leave it to Beaver? At the very least, when Doughboy ran onto the court, he should have raised his chubby, nacho chees-stained hands to protect his ugly mug. If the judge wanted to really make him suffer, she should have sentenced him to eating healthy and working out for 6 months.
posted by socalpugilist at 04:10 PM on May 13, 2005
no Jail time? I though some of these guys had priors??