A Smoothie King Center Usher was fired after a youngster ran out on the court and hugged NY Knicks star Carmelo Anthony last month.
Additionally, a police officer who worked court side was told not to return after his lax security during a game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the NY Knicks.
Alan Freeman, the arena’s general manager, told Nola.com that a crowd control barrier was not in place to prevent the child from running out on the court to hug his favorite player.
Freeman said the officer who was assigned to that area “was not doing his job.”
“So essentially what happened there is that you get two people who were not doing their responsibilities and that led to a black eye for us as the building operator,” Freeman said.
Anthony wasn’t upset about the interruption with 1 minute left in the game, but he expressed his concerns over the breach in security.
“I think that’s something they need to take care of and look into as far as their security regardless if it was a kid or not,” he said after the game.
Freeman said security at the arena will be extra tight when Kobe Bryant‘s retirement tour rolls into New Orleans for the final time on Friday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJaxoCFv1c
