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If you’ve been keeping tabs on the NBA this year, you’re likely very familiar with the string of incidents involving Ja Morant that culminated when the Grizzlies star was suspended after flashing a gun on Instagram.
That was far from the first time the high-flying guard had found himself in hot water over the course of a fairly tumultuous year.
Morant has been accused of assaulting a 17-year-old who was playing basketball at his house, attempting to confront a high school student who supposedly insulted his sister, and threatening a security guard after his mother got into an argument at a mall in Memphis.
The two-time All Star hasn’t been formally charged with any crimes in connection to those allegations, but if a new report from The Washington Post is to be believed, that may have something to do with the privileged relationship he seems to have with the Memphis Police Department.
The outlet spoke with a number of people who were allegedly victimized by Morant’s misbehavior, and a somewhat troubling pattern emerges when you couple their accounts with information concerning the manner in which law enforcement officials supposedly handled their complaints.
The article asserts detectives who looked into the case that unfolded at Morant’s home “avoided asking Morant key questions” when they interviewed him six weeks after authorities were called to the scene and that “police did not indicate they interviewed a single witness about the teenager’s allegation.”
That apparently wasn’t an isolated incident, as the Post said its reporting determined “multiple departments failed to ask basic questions or interview key witnesses [and] didn’t follow up with alleged victims and neglected investigative leads” (Morant’s name was kept out the police report documenting the incident at the mall, and his mother was simply referred to as “Unknown”).
The report also claims the Grizzlies were aware of all of the investigations but appeared to work in conjunction with the Memphis PD in an apparent attempt to keep them under wraps.
The fact that a famous athlete might get preferential treatment from the police in the city they play for isn’t necessarily a shocking development, but that doesn’t make it any less concerning.