The story behind the disturbing video that shocked the world this week has revealed the attacker’s deep NBA connection.
Former NBA player Corey Benjamin has apologised after his daughter sucker-punched and concussed an opponent.
Video of the brutal incident at a girls basketball tournament went viral earlier this week, The New York Post reports.
“This is not how I raised my daughter,” Benjamin, who played three seasons with the Chicago Bulls and one with the Atlanta Hawks, told NBC Los Angeles.
In the video, Benjamin’s daughter missed a shot. With her team down double-digits, she sucker-punched 15-year-old Lauryn Ham, a player on the other team.
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Benjamin apologised to the teen who was struck, and said that he was “shocked and disappointed” in his daughter, who made a mistake “that she will need to make right”.
A referee from the basketball game corroborated to NBC Los Angeles what the victim’s mother had told media outlets earlier this week, that Benjamin’s daughter was urged on to strike the victim by her own mother – who allegedly said, “You better go hit her”.
Video of the incident has shocked fans all over the world.
The victim’s mother, Alice Ham, told ABC7: “Of course I was in total shock.
“Just couldn’t believe that could happen to my child.”
Ham said her daughter was disoriented when she came home after the game.
“The person in question went down the court and shot a 3-pointer, landed, fell backwards into my daughter,” Ham said.
“As they got up and turned and were walking back down to the other side of the court, her mum says to her, ‘You need to hit her for that.’ And the child in question sucker-punched my daughter.”
Ham told the outlet that she filed a police report, and that she felt “it rises to the level of assault, the way that she does it with such intent and brutal force”.
The mother says her daughter is still feeling the effects days after the incident, unable to attend school or maintain focus.
“You always see things on video and you never think it could happen to you,” Ham said. “To actually see it and know that was my kid just hurt me so bad.”
Ham’s mother shared a clip of the incident to Instagram, captioning the post: “This right here makes me SICK to my stomach. This happened to MY DAUGHTER at her game yesterday.
“There is absolutely no place for something like this in basketball, I don’t care how famous you are! This mum told her daughter to ‘go and hit her’ and my kid gets an unprovoked sucker punch. I’m sorry but it’s everything that’s wrong with youth sports.
“The girl and her mum showed absolutely no remorse and offered no apology. Youth sports needs to change.”
The family of the girl who threw the punch has retained a lawyer.
“We’re very sorry … we want everybody to feel safe. We want everyone to feel secure,” Gary Thomas, chief executive of Avac United, the group that hosted the event told KTLA.
“This is an environment where kids should have fun and enjoy and be safe.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Crazy NBA connection to sickening, viral clip
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