NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire arrested for allegedly punching daughter

Former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire was arrested on Saturday after allegedly punching his daughter in the jaw and slapping her several times. The incident occurred mere hours after Stoudemire, 40, was awarded a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami.

According to sports reporter Andy Slater, the basketball player told law enforcement that his daughter ‘received a whopping from him for being disrespectful and a liar.’ He alleged that she was ‘giving attitude.’ Police report seeing bloodstains at the scene, including on the girl’s sweater and sweatpants. Pictured: Stoudemire’s two daughters. 

Stoudemire’s bail was set at $1,500. The former NBA player, who shares four children with his ex-wife, Alexis Welch, was arrested at his Brickell condo in Miami. It is unclear whether the victim was his 17-year-old or 14-year-old daughter. The police report, however, says that the child told police her six-foot-ten father punched her in the jaw and slapped her hard enough to draw blood.

Stoudemire spent most of his NBA career as a forward with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks before concluding it with the Miami Heat in 2016. The arrest report reads, ‘I observed blood stains on the victim’s sweater and sweatpants. The mother of the victim showed me the photo she received from her daughter, which shows the victim crying and blood running down her face.’

Alexis Welch (pictured right) told police after receiving a picture of her injured child, she came to retrieve her, as well as her two sons. She said Stoudemire instructed her to pick up their daughter because she was ‘being disrespectful.’ The daughter told authorities that at around 8pm on Saturday night, her grandmother called her names and she responded, ‘What?’ Her father then ‘rushed inside her room and asked her why she was giving attitude.’

The daughter subsequently denied taking a tone with her grandmother, at which point she said her father responded, ‘You’re talking back again’ and punched her on the right side of her jaw. Pictured: Stoudemire’s luxury condo in Brickell Key, Miami — where the alleged incident took place.

He then followed up by slapping her face, drawing blood, and continuing to slap the ‘left side of her body,’ according to the police report. Stoudemire told the police the child had called her mother to come pick her up ‘because she was sad.’ She was sad, he said, ‘because she received a whooping from him for being disrespectful and a liar.’

The report then said that Stoudemire utilized his right to remain silent. He was given a stay-away order and his arraignment is scheduled for January 17. Stoudemire was drafted out of high school in Orlando to the Phoenix Suns in 2002 and was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2002-03. He was named All-NBA five times over the course of his career. Pictured: Amar’e graduated from the University of Miami with an MBA — just hours before the arrest.

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