A North Carolina mother has filed a lawsuit against Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball and the team alleging that he ran 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 was ending, fans started going up to players as they left the arena and drove away.
Joseph, McRae said, went up to Ball and asked him for his autograph.
“He was like, ’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 was waiting outside the Spectrum Center after the Hornets' Purple and Teal Day. He wanted an autograph from LaMelo Ball
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) May 21, 2024
His mom says Ball didn't sign anything. He sped off in his car and drove over the 11-year-old's foot, breaking it.
A lawsuit has been filed… pic.twitter.com/fsvnmQVRNV
Ball didn’t sign anything for Joseph. instead "accelerated his vehicle forward suddenly" and ran over Joseph's foot and broke it." Further specifics on his injury aren't known, but McRae said the recovery process for both her and her son was incredibly difficult to deal with.
“For a while, I couldn’t even recognize who my child was because, like depression, not being able to go outside and play,” she said. “When you see your children hurt, it hurts you. It’s been rough. It’s been real rough. I mean, like I’m a strong person. This broke me.”
Their attorney, Cameron DeBrun, told WSOC-TV that they would have filed a claim with Ball’s insurance but the police report from the incident was missing key information. That’s part of what led them to the lawsuit. They also included the Hornets in the lawsuit, as the incident took place at their annual "Purple and Teal Day" event.
According to the lawsuit, per The Athletic, Ball was negligent while operating his vehicle "without maintaining proper control of it" and failing to "yield the right of way to a pedestrian" and to "apply his breaks in time to avoid an incident." The Hornets, the lawsuit said, didn't "provide adequate security and pedestrian control measures in the Spectrum Center employee exit" at their fan event. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Mecklenburg County Superior Court.
Ball appeared 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.
