A North Carolina mother has filed a lawsuit against Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball and the team for running over her 11-year-old son’s foot with his car at a fan event last fall, according to WSOC-TV.
Tamaira McRae was with her son, Angell Joseph, at a Hornets fan event at the Spectrum Center in October. As the event came to a close, fans began walking toward players as they left the arena and drove away.
Joseph, McRae said, went to Ball and asked him for his autograph.
“He said, ‘LaMelo, I love you. I love you, sign my… give me your autograph. Can you sign it for me?’” she told WSCO-TV.
An 11-year-old waited outside the Spectrum Center after the Hornets’ Purple and Teal Day. He wanted an autograph from LaMelo Ball
His mother says Ball didn’t sign anything. He sped away in his car and ran over the 11-year-old’s foot, breaking it.
A lawsuit has been filed… pic.twitter.com/fsvnmQVRNV
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) May 21, 2024
Ball didn’t sign anything for Joseph. instead, his vehicle “suddenly accelerated forward” and ran over Joseph’s foot, breaking it. Further details about his injury are not known, but McRae said the recovery process was incredibly difficult for both her and her son to deal with.
“For a while I couldn’t even recognize who my child was because, like depression, I couldn’t go outside to play,” she said. “When you see your children get hurt, it hurts you too. It’s been tough. It’s been very tough. I mean, like I’m a strong person. This has broken me.”
Their attorney, Cameron DeBrun, told WSOC-TV that they would have filed a claim with Ball’s insurance, but the police report of the incident was missing key information. That’s part of what brought them to trial. They also included the Hornets in the lawsuit, as the incident occurred during their annual “Purple and Teal Day” event.
According to the lawsuit, according to The Athletic, Ball was negligent while operating his vehicle “without maintaining proper control” and failing to “yield the right of way to a pedestrian” and “take breaks in time to prevent an incident.” The Hornets, the lawsuit said, “failed to provide adequate security and pedestrian control measures at the Spectrum Center employee exit” during their fan event. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Mecklenburg County Superior Court.
Ball played in just 22 games for the Hornets last season, his fourth with the franchise, due to an ankle injury. He still averaged a career-high 23.9 points and eight assists per game. The 22-year-old will enter the first year of a five-year, $204 million contract extension with the team this fall.
