Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr’s alleged assault on his girlfriend in a New York Metropolis resort room left the girl with a fractured neck vertebra and a deep minimize above her proper eye, prosecutors revealed at his arraignment on Tuesday.
Porter, 23, pleaded not responsible to felony assault and strangulation fees in reference to the incident early on Monday on the Millennium Hilton close to the United Nations in Manhattan. Prosecutors stated he didn’t cease till his girlfriend, former WNBA participant Kysre Gondrezick, bumped into the hallway coated in blood.
The NBA star, who had been in police custody since his arrest round 6.45am. on Monday, was launched after posting bail, which was set at $75,000 money or $100,000 bond. He was additionally ordered to steer clear of Gondrezick.
“This can be a critical home violence case,” Manhattan assistant district legal professional Mirah Curzer stated in courtroom.
In keeping with Curzer, Porter has a historical past of abusing Gondrezick, together with an incident by which he rammed his automobile into hers.
Porter is due again in courtroom in Manhattan on 16 October. The Rockets are scheduled to play a preseason recreation that day in San Antonio, with their common season tipping off about two weeks later.
A message in search of remark was left with Porter’s lawyer.
In a press release on Monday, the Rockets stated: “We’re within the technique of gathering data surrounding the matter involving Kevin Porter Jr. We now have no additional remark right now.”
In keeping with a legal grievance, Gondrezick informed police that Porter punched her repeatedly within the face with a closed fist, inflicting an inches-long gash above the fitting eye, bruising and substantial ache to her face.
Gondrezick, 26, stated Porter additionally wrapped his palms round her neck and strangled her, inflicting her to have issue respiration, redness and bruising to her neck, and lack of movement in her left arm.
Hospital testing confirmed that Gondrezick sustained a fracture to one of many vertebrae in her neck, the legal grievance stated.
Porter and Gondrezick began relationship in February 2022, in accordance with an anniversary message she posted on X, the social media web site previously often known as Twitter.
Gondrezick, the fourth decide within the 2021 WNBA draft, performed one season for the Indiana Fever and is at present a free agent. She can also be an actor and mannequin.
Porter has performed 4 seasons within the NBA – a tenure marked by on-court prowess and off-court issues.
Final 12 months, Porter averaged 19.2 factors, 5.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per recreation, incomes a profitable four-year extension with Houston, the place he had landed after sporting out his welcome in Cleveland.
In November 2020, whereas enjoying for the Cavaliers, Porter was arrested after police stated they discovered a loaded handgun and marijuana in his automobile after a single-vehicle crash. Porter claimed he didn’t know the gun was there, and the fees had been ultimately dismissed.
Porter, a 2019 first-round draft decide from the College of Southern California, was traded from Cleveland to Houston just a few months later after he reportedly confronted the Cavaliers’ common supervisor after discovering out that his locker had been moved to make room for a newly acquired participant.
In April 2021, the NBA fined Porter $50,000 for violating the league’s Covid-19 well being and security guidelines by visiting a Miami strip membership. In January 2022, the Rockets suspended Porter for a recreation after then-coach Stephen Silas stated the participant had a “spirited debate” and “misplaced his mood” at halftime.