Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges has apologized for striking a fan with his mouthpiece after he was ejected in the fourth quarter of the team’s 132-103 loss to the host Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
Bridges was exiting the court and headed for the locker room when a Hawks fan drew his attention by shouting in his direction, according to The Charlotte Observer. Bridges stopped, took his mouthpiece out and threw it at the fan but instead hit a 16-year-old girl standing nearby over her shoulder, the outlet reported.
"I was aiming for the guy that was screaming at me and it hit a little girl," Bridges said. "So that's definitely unacceptable on my part and I take full responsibility ... that's out of character for me. You've been around me; I don't act like that or ever flash out like that. So that was definitely wrong, a lot of emotions and hopefully I can get in contact with the young girl and sincerely apologize to her and do something nice for her, but that's definitely on me."
Charlotte coach James Borrego said he was not aware of what happened.
"I'm sure we'll gather some more information and I need some time to talk to Miles and I know he was very emotional at the time, so I'll gather some more information," Borrego said, according to ESPN.
James Capers, the crew chief for Wednesday's game, explained that Bridges was ejected from the game "because he used profanity directed at the official and it was his second technical foul. By rule, that is an automatic ejection," according to ESPN.
"I was upset about a call, a couple of calls really,'' Bridges said. "I let my temper get the best of me. It was definitely the wrong thing to do.''
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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