Barkley Throws Man Through Bar Window
`I Defended Myself
He Got What He Deserved'
October 27, 1997
ORLANDO — Houston Rockets power forward Charles Barkley offered no apologies about charges he wrestled a man from an officer's grasp Sunday morning and hurled him through a glass window at Phineas Phoggs, a bar in Church Street Station.
``What [police and witnesses) said happened, happened,'' Barkley said. ``What he did was inappropriate. I'm going to defend myself. Let there be no debate. If you bother me, I'm going to whip your ass. The guy threw ice in my face, and I slammed his ass into the window. I'm not denying that. I defended myself. He got what he deserved.''
Sunday night, before Barkley and the Rockets played an exhibition game against the Orlando Magic, Barkley made it clear he would do the same again.
``I'm going to defend myself and whoever I'm with at all times,'' he said. ``I made that clear in my years in the NBA. I will never back down from the public. I will never back down. They are going to respect me, or I'm going to defend myself.''
Barkley, charged with aggravated battery and resisting arrest without violence, walked out of the Orange County Jail about 7:15 a.m. Sunday on $6,000 bond. Rockets guard Clyde Drexler, who was with Barkley at the bar, bailed him out.
Drexler said, ``He certainly was provoked. No question about that.''
Jorge Lugo, 20, a construction laborer, was released from Orlando Regional Medical Center after treatment for minor cuts to his right arm.