American former professional basketball point guard, Gary Payton is always getting into trouble. So it is not a new thing for him to be dealing with legal issues. It seems the 47 year old basketball legend has landed himself in yet another legal trouble and this time for a physical assault on a woman. Payton has been accused of battering a woman and she has sued him claiming that the NBA star laid his hands on her multiple times.
The assaulted woman named Trishtan Williams filed the lawsuit claiming that Payton invited her on a date to an award function in Seattle back in January and it was after the ceremony that he started getting violent.
Despite the woman’s accusation, the basketball legend has been denying everything by saying that Williams has been framing him to get huge lump of money for him.
TMZ Sports obtained the lawsuit filed by Williams and did a serious study of the case. And as per suit, Payton and his date visited a local bar, where she claimed that he shoved her over. But she didn’t open up about the reason behind his action. Williams also claimed that the athlete assaulted her again after they got in a car to leave together. Payton physically struck her a third time at their hotel room where they were staying together.
The woman filed the lawsuit and sought the legal help of feminist lawyer Gloria Allred and is asking for large sum of money. While Williams advocate is trying her best to prove Payton wrong, his agent, Aaron Goodwin claimed that the whole thing was nothing more than a plot to make Payton pay for something he has not done. The agent also said that Williams changed her story several times and she is just making up everything and lack of any physical evidence failed to prove any assault on her.
"Unfortunately, with the climate of claims against athletes for monetary gains, Mr. Payton is just another victim and will fight this frivolous lawsuit,” Goodwin said.
Following the allegations, Fox Sports 1 suspended the NBA legend indefinitely from his job. He will remain suspended until the completion of an internal investigation. Looks like Payton, who is also an NBA analyst for Fox network since 2013, is going to get in a whole lot of trouble this time.
Payton is usually known for his aggressive nature and trash talk. The athlete has earned a bad name for his open-mouthing and violent nature and has faced many suspension and fines in his 17 year old NBA career.
The news of him assaulting a woman on a date has created quite a buzz. However, a married man and a father of four children going on a date with another woman is somehow confusing. Payton is currently married to his then girlfriend and now wife Monique James since 1997 and they have three kids: Gary II, Julian, and Raquel. He also has a son named Gary Payton Jr with a different mother.
We wonder how the athlete, with a towering height of 6.4 ft. and 79 kg of weight, gets out of this legal mess he is in at the moment.