Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon has been released on bail after repeatedly punched his son in the face when the 11-year-old dropped a book, according to court documents.
The former Chicago Bulls player was granted bail from Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday night, and released in the early hours of Wednesday.
Gordon, 39, was reported to police by an American Airlines employee who witnessed the alleged assault.
He had been travelling with his son Elijah, 11, to Chicago when the woman saw him punching and shouting at the child in LaGuardia Airport on Monday night.
Gordon allegedly resisted when Port Authority officers tried to arrest him and reportedly ‘flailed his arms and twisted his body’ .
He is accused of pushing his weight against the two officers and injuring one of their knees and the others arm and wrist.
Both officers were taken to hospital, with Gordon shouting at them ‘I am not going with you guys,’ according to the New York Post.
Judge Edwin Novillo set his bail at $20,000 cash, $50,000 insurance bond or $50,000 partially secured bond at 10 per cent.
Gordon was not immediately free, and was taken to a police station in Manhattan to settle a warrant on an infraction involving his drivers license.
Ben Gordon has been pictured today entering Manhattan Central Booking after being released on bail in Queens for hitting his son ‘multiple times’
The former NBA star has appeared in court following his arrest for allegedly hitting his son so hard he needed to be hospitalized
He is accused of punching his 11-year-old son Elijah, pictured, so hard that he was rushed to the hospital by his aunt. Gordon shares the child with ex-fiancé Sascha Smith
Gordon smiled as he was led into the precinct in Manhattan in handcuffs just hours after he was released on bail for several charges involving his son
Gordon was charged with two counts of assault in the second degree, two counts of assault in the third degree, criminal contempt in the first degree, criminal contempt in the second degree, endangering the welfare of a child, attempted assault in the third degree and resisting arrest.
His son, who he shares with his ex-fiancé Sascha Smith, 32, has an order of protection out against his father dating back to May 2018.
The order, which was issued in Illinois, prohibits Gordon from removing his son from the state was well as ‘committing physical abuse, harassment, or the interference with personal liberty’ against his son.
His ex-girlfriend and stepmom to Elijah, Ashley Banks, denied he hit his son and blamed a ‘kiosk Karen’ for calling security when he only reprimanded the child.
She who dated the former Chicago Bulls star until 2020, and claims the athlete had been doing push ups with Elijah when guards swooped and he was arrested.
Gordon’s ex-girlfriend Ashley Banks, pictured, claims that the athlete is ‘misunderstood’ and was ‘triggered’ by an ‘airport Karen’
Former Chicago Bulls star Ben Gordon has been arrested at LaGuardia airport after allegedly hitting his 11-year-old son so hard the child required hospitalization
Banks confirmed that she had previously had a restraining order against Gordon when he was struggling with his mental health, but the two now co-parent their son Lux together
Ben Gordon is pictured in March 2018 at a court hearing in Manhattan, charged with driving with a fake license plate
Banks, who shares son Lux with Gordon, told DailyMail.com: ‘Someone was being nosy. It was the kiosk lady. She was just being a Karen. They got security and he was triggered because he was with his son.
‘My son’s father would never put his hands on his children. He lives and breathes air for his three boys. It was the case of the airport Karen triggering another black man. She should be fired. He was just very upset.
‘His son was not hurt, he wasn’t bruised and is with his aunt. The lady was starting with them and called security and he was getting upset. The child is fine.’
Gordon has previously admitted struggling with his mental health, writing an essay on the The Player’s Tribune in 2020 detailing his struggles with bipolar and mania – saying it was ‘terrifying’.
He said he was admitted to a mental hospital, and ‘didn’t even understand why it was happening’, explaining he lost his ‘career, identity and family pretty much simultaneously.’
Sascha Smith, pictured with Elijah, is the mother of the 11-year-old who Gordon is accused of punching. It is understood that she currently lives in Chicago
Gordon retired in 2015, and has been open about his mental health struggles in the years since
The arrest is the latest in a string of clashes with the law for the troubled star, who played with the Chicago Bulls from 2004 to 2009 before joining the Detroit Pistons.
Gordon won the Sixth Man Award in 2005 as a rookie with the Bulls, and played alongside Luol Deng – earning an estimated $84 million during his NBA career.
He played with the Charlotte Bobcats for two seasons, and ended his career with the Orlando Magic in 2015.
In June 2017 he was arrested for pulling the fire alarms at his Los Angeles apartment complex despite there being no blaze, going into ‘meltdown mode’ after getting locked out,
Both the LAPD and the City Fire Department responded, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of falsely activating a fire alarm.
He then failed to appear in court at his arraignment for the fiasco, before being arrested again in October 2017.
The sporting star is pictured in April 2011, while he was signed with the Detroit Pistons
NBA player Gordon is pictured outside a court in New York City in March 2018 following a case over a forged license plate
A distraught woman claimed that she had been in a confrontation with Gordon and was locked in the store after demanding that she leave.
Gordon was arrested by officers at the Of Our Own store in Mount Vernon, after they found him hiding in the bathroom and they transported him to a hospital.
In November 2017 the athlete was arrested during a car stop in Manhattan for driving with a forged license place, with a judge issuing a warrant for his arrest months later when he again failed to show up to court.
He was then arrested in Los Angeles weeks later after allegedly assaulting his formed apartment building manager and threatening him with a knife.
Gordon had reportedly attempted to get back a security deposit he owned, before punching the manager in the face.
The man handed him a portion of the deposit, before Gordan returned to the scene with a knife and demanded the rest of the cash. He was then taken into custody without incident on robbery charges.
The Port Authority police department have not commented on Gordon’s arrest.