Police Investigating Bradley Beal Over Altercation With Angry Fan Who Lost Money Gambling

Bradley Beal Washington Wizards

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Bradley Beal is playing in his 13th season with the Washington Wizards. Playing with one team for his entire career puts him in a rarefied company in the modern NBA where most players jump around from team to team.

Since leaving the Florida Gators in 2012 and being drafted 3rd overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, Bradley Beal has made 3 NBA All-Star teams and has dealt with countless criticism from opposing fans throughout the years.

Now, according to a report from TMZ, police in Orlando, Florida are investigating Bradley Beal for claims of Battery (flipping a hat) after a confrontation with a disgruntled fan turned sour.

According to TMZ, the fan was using colorful language while accusing Bradley Beal of costing the fan $1,300 on a failed bet. Obviously, it was 100% on the fan for placing a losing bet and not on Beal but gamblers seem to lose perspective on that quite often.

It’s alleged that Beal and the fan jawed back and forth after Bradley called the fan’s comment “disrespectful.”

Beal allegedly told then fan he doesn’t care about “none of your bets or your parlays, bro. That ain’t why I play the game.”

TMZ says the two parties exchanged ‘tense’ words for close to a minute before Beal wen to the locker room. But then a police report was filed the next day with the fan alleging Beal. The report on TMZ claims:

But, the alleged victim contacted police and they met the following day. The fan told police Beal hit him in the head when he swatted the cap. Cops took a report for battery and began investigating.

Police watched cell phone video of the incident. They also went to the Amway Center in an attempt to hunt down surveillance video, but the incident occurred off camera.

The alleged victim told cops he wants to press charges against Beal, and police noted there was enough probable cause to charge Bradley with “simple battery,” saying “charges will be filed at large with the State Attorney’s Office.”

It is unclear where things go from here. The Washington Wizards did not respond to TMZ’s request for comment.

Washington hosts the Orlando Magic on Friday, March 31st. But they aren’t set to travel back to Orlando again this season so it’s unclear when, if ever, Bradley Beal will be questioned about the incident in Florida.

At this point, it’s unclear what was seen on the cellphone footage police reviewed. It is hard to imagine a world where flipping a hat is considered battery.

In Florida, ‘simple battery’ (Florida statue 784.03) is defined as “when a person actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other or intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.”

As this is an ongoing investigation, the police certainly won’t be commenting at this time.

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Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.