PBA import spends Holy Week in jail
American basketball player Jamelle Cornley ended up spending the Holy Week break in jail after he trashed the lobby of a hotel in Quezon City and sent a policeman to the hospital on Wednesday.
Cornley should be able to post bail tomorrow should the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office approve the charges to be filed against him in court.
On the fifth day of his detention at the office of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, the 25-year-old player has maintained that he did not lay a hand on PO2 Anselmo Lazatin of the Kamuning police station.
“He says he did not punch our police officer and he only pushed or shoved him. That is up to the prosecutor to determine,” said case investigator SPO1 Cristituto Zaldarriaga.
On Wednesday night, the former import of the Rain or Shine team of the Philippine Basketball Association underwent inquest proceedings for malicious mischief, direct assault, resisting arrest and disobedience to a person in authority—all bailable offenses.
The complaint for direct assault charge, however, was put on hold for further investigation although Zaldarriaga said they would question this on Monday.
Zaldarriaga said they faxed a report of the American cager’s case to the US Embassy on Thursday morning after the inquest proceedings.
“Before Cornley was subjected to inquest proceedings on Wednesday, we called up the embassy to give them a heads up. Someone talked to Cornley over the phone although the embassy has yet to send someone to talk to him in person,” he added.
He said Cornley was assisted during the inquest proceedings by two lawyers, one of whom was sent by his former basketball team.
The American was arrested on Wednesday morning after he supposedly punched Lazatin who responded to a call for help at St. William’s Hotel on Timog Avenue where Cornley allegedly checked in with three women.
Cornley claimed he woke up to find he was missing $1,500 in cash. He threw a fit in the lobby, berated hotel staffers and destroyed a vase, desktop computer and the glass doors of an in-house videoke bar.
When the police arrived to arrest him, he allegedly punched Lazatin in the nape, sending him to the ground. It took 10 other policemen to take the 6’5” cager to the nearby police station.
Kamuning police station commander Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo noted that his men had a hard time fitting the basketball player into the police car.
Zaldarriaga, meanwhile, said Cornley could file a complaint against the women whom he accused of stealing his money.
He added, however, that when the police got to the hotel, the women had long since disappeared. The staff of the hotel had also told authorities that they did not know the women who were with the PBA import when he checked in.
