Brown in cake caper
From staff and wire reports
Article Last Updated: 01/16/2007 10:52:07 PM PST
Lakers center Kwame Brown isn't a exactly league leader in steals, but he allegedly scored one sweet takeaway in Hermosa Beach over the weekend.
No matter how you slice it, Brown, known for small hands that occasionally fumble passes on the basketball court, enjoyed a real cakewalk Saturday, according to a police report. For reasons only he knows (and he's not talking) Brown allegedly snatched a man's $190 2-by-2-foot chocolate birthday cake.
Once he had the cake, Brown opted not to eat it, too. He instead allegedly hurled it at the man and struck him in the back.
It all went down at the Blue 32 nightclub on Hermosa Avenue.
Several Lakers headed to the bar following their 109-106 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday, according to a Hermosa Beach police report. Just down the street, Alexander Martinez, the man who filed the report, was celebrating his 30th birthday at the Shore Restaurant.
About 1:45 a.m. Martinez left the restaurant, his birthday cake in his arms, and walked north. He stopped in front of Blue 32. According to Martinez's report, Brown came along, grabbed the cake out of his arms and threw it at him. The report gives no indication why Brown would do such a thing.
The 5-foot-9, 165-pound Martinez, tried to confront the 6-foot-11, 270-pound Brown, but Brown got into a white limousine, the report said.
Twelve hours later Martinez visited the Hermosa Beach police station to file a police report on the purloined pastry.
Detectives looked into a possible case of grand theft and presented it to the Hermosa Beach city prosecutor, who decided to throw the case out.
Lakers spokesman John Black said the team was aware of the episode, but had been informed prosecutors were not seeking charges.