Police have arrested a person accused of making an attempt to throw a intercourse toy onto the court docket at a New York Liberty sport at Brooklyn’s Barclays Heart who as a substitute hit a 12-year-old woman within the crowd who was having fun with the sport, officers mentioned Thursday.
Charles Burgess, 32, who was carrying a “Beavis and Butt-head” T-shirt on the time of his “flagrant foul,” surrendered to police Wednesday, admitting that he was the one who threw the inexperienced intercourse toy in the course of the Huge Apple WNBA workforce’s “Women’s Empowerment” night time on Aug. 5.
Brooklyn prosecutors charged him with misdemeanor assault, in addition to menacing, reckless endangerment, possession of obscene materials, interference with an expert sporting occasion, weapons possession and different prices, officers mentioned.
Burgess was launched with out bail throughout his arraignment in Brooklyn Legal Courtroom on Thursday night.
Charles Burgess, 32, surrendered to police on Wednesday, admitting that he was the one who threw the inexperienced intercourse toy in the course of the Liberty’s “Women’s Empowerment” night time on Aug. 5, cops mentioned. (NYPD)
Burgess, who’s from Dayton, Ohio, was watching the Liberty girl hoopers defeat the Dallas Wings 85-76 when he flung the intercourse toy from his seat — a weird follow that has been going viral on-line.
The inappropriate merchandise missed the court docket, as a substitute pelting the kid within the leg, cops mentioned.
The woman suffered a minor damage, however refused medical consideration.
Burgess left the Barclays Heart a number of moments later, however cops caught surveillance video of him strolling via the place. The NYPD launched the pictures, asking anybody with details about his whereabouts to return ahead.
Detectives managed to determine Burgess after recovering video of him scanning a ticket whereas getting into the downtown Brooklyn area. The middle’s computer systems registered Burgess’ ticket being scanned at the very same time, officers mentioned.
Cops confirmed Burgess’ id by matching his Ohio DMV photograph to the surveillance footage of their suspect.
Natasha Cloud of the New York Liberty shoots the ball whereas blowing previous Aziaha James of the Dallas Wings in the course of the second half at Barclays Heart on Aug. 5, 2025, in Brooklyn. (Picture by Ishika Samant/Getty Pictures)
The disturbing pattern of throwing intercourse toys onto the court docket is changing into increasingly frequent throughout WNBA video games as these disruptions go viral on-line, officers mentioned.
Since early August, intercourse toys have been thrown on court docket throughout video games in Atlanta on July 29, Chicago on Aug. 1, Los Angeles on Aug. 5 and Chicago once more on Aug. 7, when the offending object hit the court docket within the sport’s closing seconds, marring the Atlanta Dream’s victory over the home-team Sky, WNBA officers mentioned.
One of many intimate units almost hit Los Angeles Sparks guard Sophie Cunningham in the course of the workforce’s sport in opposition to the Indiana Fever.
Safety guards on the basketball arenas aren’t selecting up the intercourse toys, that are normally plastic, as followers enter the stadium, Ty Richmond, the president of the occasion providers division at Allied Common Safety, an organization that gives safety providers to many NBA and WNBA video games, advised the Related Press.
“Not all stadiums are using a screening process that’s consistent and can detect [the sex toys] because of what it would require — pat-down searches, opening the bags, prohibiting bags,” he mentioned. “[It’s] the conflict of expediency, of getting fans into the arena and into the venue, which is an important issue, and security and safety.”
Initially Revealed: August 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM EDT
