Tasered Nugget says he was trying
to stop a fight

Denver Nuggets forward DerMarr Johnson

By Ivan Moreno
Rocky Mountain News
June 12, 2007

The 5-foot-7-inch police officer knew Nuggets player DerMarr Johnson presented a challenge.

If the 6-foot-9 basketball player wasn't going to comply with orders to let go of the two women whose arms he was holding, the officer reasoned he would have to shock him.

So he used the Taser on Johnson's right thigh early Saturday.

"Johnson immediately let go and turned toward me," the Greenwood Village police officer wrote in his report, released Monday. He said Johnson told him, "This is my family. Why did you do that?"

The incident, which happened at about 1:30 a.m. outside the Purple Martini, 8000 E. Belleview Ave., earned Johnson, 27, a ticket for resisting arrest and interference with a peace officer.

The officer said at one point Johnson slapped away his hand when he tried to restrain him. He said the Nuggets player kept telling him, "Stop pulling on me, man!"

Johnson's attorney, Daniel Recht, said police made a mistake.

"This was a misunderstanding on the part of the police who came into the middle of a fight," he said. "DerMarr was simply trying to keep these two women from hurting each other and trying to keep them apart."

He said the women and witnesses at the scene will testify Johnson had nothing to do with the altercation between the two women, Emerald Thomas, 25, and Nephatearia Jenkins, 26, who were cited for disturbing the peace.

Thomas told police she was fighting with Jenkins because Jenkins and a friend "were disrespecting her."

Johnson, who is due in Greenwood Village Municipal Court on July 11, didn't suffer any injuries during Saturday's scuffle.

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