Shaquille O'Neal provided an assist to police over the weekend,
trailing a man who allegedly assaulted a gay couple before alerting an
arresting officer.
The 7-foot-1 Miami Heat center, who is
in the process of becoming a Miami Beach, Fla. reserve officer, was
driving on South Beach around 3 a.m. Sunday. He saw a passenger in a
car yell anti-gay slurs at the couple, who were walking, said Bobby
Hernandez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department.
The
man then got out of the car and threw a bottle, hitting one of the
pedestrians, who was not seriously hurt. The man got back in the car,
which sped off. O'Neal followed, flagging down an officer who made an
arrest, Hernandez said.
An 18-year-old man was arrested on
charges of aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon. The
driver of the car was not charged.
O'Neal, who hopes to be
a police chief or county sheriff one day, was already being fitted for
his Miami Beach police uniform before he helped the police out.
"For
this incident I don't want to be credited as an individual who does
police work," O'Neal said in a statement. "I want to be credited as a
Miami Beach police officer."
Shaquille O'Neal provided an assist to police over the weekend,
trailing a man who allegedly assaulted a gay couple before alerting an
arresting officer. 
