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Via bodycam footage, here's how police responded to that infamous pickup basketball foul

Zach Pereles

New footage of the foul heard ’round the world emerged Thursday, and it’s about as ridiculous as it first sounded.

A man requested to call the police on Monday night

On Monday, a man in a Virginia gym ordered a gym employee to call the police after what he believed was “assault” from a screen set on him.

By Tuesday, the incident had gone viral, and various eyewitnesses maintained it was anywhere in the neighborhood of a “hard screen” to just a bump. The man in the shooting sleeves below is the man who made the contact, not the one who ordered a call to the police.

Regardless of the nature of the grievance, the gym attendant made the call to the police, and audio of that conversation can be heard here, via Deadspin.

Body camera footage was released Thursday

The cop’s body camera footage, found here, was obtained by Deadspin, and it shows equal levels of confusion and frustration, as one would expect.

After the policeman entered, a front-desk attendant described the victim as “tall,” and “probably Middle Eastern” and wearing a black shirt.

The policeman made his way to the basketball court area, where two men emerged, one fitting the description of the victim. The two parties explained the event to the policemen:

SCREENER: So big man pushed me in the back while we’re standing underneath the basketball—all I did was make a basketball play into him like this [makes contact in the nature of a screen or box-out]. That’s all I did. If he wants to cry about that, that’s a basketball—it’s part of basketball.

VICTIM: Brandon, Brandon, you know that you didn’t do that. Admit what you did. Admit what you did—

SCREENER: No. That’s all I did.

The two proceeded to get in a heated debate that included some expletives, but the policeman shut down that argument quickly. Eventually, the cop said that the incident, “Sounds to me like some normal basketball s—.”

No charges will be pressed

A second gym employee, who is seen between the two men in the video, offered to have both men leave or have both men stay after hearing both sides of the story.

When the policeman asked if the victim wanted to press charges, he said no because he thought the screener would “come retaliate against me, if I want to go home, if I want…” Eventually the conversation petered out, and the men returned to the court.

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Police were on the scene when a pickup basketball player believed he had been assaulted on a screen. (from @_togs on Twitter)
Police were on the scene when a pickup basketball player believed he had been assaulted on a screen. (from @_togs on Twitter)