New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes was sentenced to three years of probation, 450 hours of community service and a year of weekly domestic violence classes on Tuesday following a 2021 incident with police in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.
Hayes, 22, was originally charged with 12 misdemeanors on Jan. 20, 2022, for fighting with police officers in the early morning hours of July 28, 2021, after a domestic disturbance call. He was arrested at 3 a.m. that morning. Those charges included three counts of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse, two counts of domestic battery, one count of battery against an officer, one count of false imprisonment, three counts of vandalism, one count of aggravated trespassing and one count of resisting arrest.
Hayes pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and resisting an officer on Feb. 24, 2022. The other 10 misdemeanors were dismissed.
The July arrest and subsequent court proceedings stem from a domestic disturbance call made by Hayes’ then-girlfriend on the morning of July 28.
Police arrived at a house in the Woodland Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles and questioned the Pelicans center about the call, to which Hayes claimed he and the woman “were just having a little argument. She was just throwing some stuff at me. Just cleaning it up.” When police asked to enter the house to speak to the woman, Hayes reportedly became argumentative and pushed an officer into a wall.
Edited body cam footage released by the L.A. Police Department showed the altercation, which included an officer tasing Hayes and forcibly pressing his hand and knee against Hayes’ neck, which caused Hayes to repeatedly say, “I can’t breathe.” Another video, released by TMZ in August 2021, shows Hayes being tased in the chest. Hayes was treated at a hospital for injuries suffered during the scuffle before being arrested.
The LAPD was being investigated for its use of force against Hayes in August, but the results of the investigation have not been made public yet.
Hayes did not face any repercussions from the NBA even after the LA Police Protective League sent a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson. He was reportedly reprimanded by the team following the arrest.
Hayes, the eighth overall pick in 2019, has played 194 games for the Pelicans over the past three seasons. He averaged 9.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 70 games this past season.
