There are conflicting reports on whether Dallas Mavericks player Tim Thomas (pictured) used antigay slurs during an altercation in a Denny’s restaurant early Wednesday.
According to a police report cited by The Dallas Morning News, Mavs reserve forward Thomas, a male friend, and three women were in a Dallas Denny’s about 3 a.m. Wednesday, when Damien Pettie, who was also in the restaurant with friends, recognized the basketball player and asked him, “What’s up?” Thomas told Pettie not to talk to him, saying he didn’t talk to “faggots,” and used curse words and racial epithets as well, the report said.
A bit later, Pettie again attempted to converse with Thomas, who then made another antigay remark, the News reports. After Pettie responded with profanity, Thomas’s male companion struck Pettie in the face twice and broke his lip open, according to police. “Then all parties within both groups began to throw chairs, knock over tables, and fight each other,” the police report read.
However, Roger Emrich, a local radio sports reporter who was eating in the Denny’s, said on the air Wednesday afternoon that he did not hear Thomas use antigay slurs, although it was clear that Thomas did not want to talk with Pettie. Emrich also said he saw no chairs thrown or punches landed, although some of the people involved in the fracas fell onto his table and broke his plate. Another customer, Colleen Kissick, said she saw several people tipping tables and throwing chairs, including one that hit her mother.
Pettie told the News that Thomas and his companions acted “juvenile ... like a bunch of high school kids,” with Thomas being a “big bully kid.” Pettie said he is not gay, but the friends with him included lesbians.
Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson told the News the incident had been “way, way, way overblown” and that team management was working with police to investigate it. “What I can tell you is that Tim was not involved. … When the situation started to escalate, he left the property immediately,” Nelson added. No arrests have been made, according to the News.
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