Thabo Sefolosha was involved in an incident with New York City police officers outside a night club in April that caused him to break his leg and miss the NBA playoffs. Sefolosha was charged with resisting arrest for the incident but ended up beating the charges and is actually now back to playing basketball. Despite the fact that he won his case and he is back on the court Sefolosha still plans to sue the City of New York and the NYPD for permanent damages, according to Rebecca Rosenberg and Julia Marsh of the New York Post.
In a legal notice Sefolosha and his representation say that the broken leg that he suffered outside the night club caused him to become "substantially disabled" so he is suing for $50 million. That substantially disabled part seems to be up for debate as the Atlanta Hawks guard is now playing in games and even threw down a dunk a few days ago.
Thabo's leg looked just fine on this one: https://t.co/qgW4KzwafY
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 19, 2015
Sefolosha's lawyer, Alex Spiro, says that just because he is able to perform on the court doesn't mean he isn't permanently disabled. "Unfortunately, he may not be dunking as much as he was before this happened," said Spiro.
Sefolosha and his lawyer reportedly originally quietly filed the lawsuit over the summer but the media just got wind of it on Wednesday. The incident occurred on a night when Sefolosha was partying with teammate Pero Antic and it was the same night Chris Copeland was stabbed by a stranger outside 1Oak.
During the trial both sides gave completely different stories of the events of the night but Sefolosha ended up winning and being acquitted. He was offered a plea deal before the trial but he turned it down in order to clear his name.
Sefolosha is expected to be ready for the Hawks when the season opens up for them on October 27th against the Detroit Pistons.
