NBA Turned Blind Eye to possible Felon!

By Brittni Michaelis

Tyreke Evans, the sensational rookie point guard who plays for the Sacramento Kings, has been named along with four others in a wrongful-death civil suit filed today according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A Young Tyreke Evans

In November of 2007, Marcus Reason was killed by Jamar Evans, Tyreke’s cousin, in a drive by shooting. The Reason family is asking for at least $50,000. Jamar Evans was 16 years old at the time of the incident, when he fired off a gun while sitting on the passenger side of a Ford Expedition driven by Tyreke Evans. After a month long wait, Jamar Evans finally turned himself in and police thought that it was a gang related incident. However, prosecutors didn’t find a gun on Reason, nor did they suspect he fired one. Police said Tyreke drove off immediately after the shooting and was not charged with a crime.

According to Bethlehem Shoals at NBA Fanhouse, Tyreke Evans been driving a car that was involved in a drive by shooting and that Evans was not charged with a crime, but that NBA teams and league officials knew about the incident and did nothing to punish him.

It should be noted however that Evans did let teams know about his involvement prior to being drafted and cooperated with police. What is even more disturbing is that he drove away from the scene of a crime and was not charged. It is certainly a sign of the current times that not even one team  thought to shy away from drafting someone who could have been a convicted felon if he was charged.

In the coming months it will be interesting to see how David Stern, Stu Jackson, and the NBA handles this situation and if they will punish Tyreke Evans, since the police failed to the first time.