Report: Ayesha Curry’s father mistaken for notorious con artist
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Late Thursday night, after accusing the NBA of rigging the Finals, Ayesha Curry, the wife of Warriors star Stephen Curry, tweeted that her father had been racially profiled at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
“Police racial profiled my father and told him to remove credentials and tried to arrest him,” she wrote. “It’s been a long night for me. I apologize.”
The NBA issued an explanation for the incident on Friday morning to ESPN’s Marc Spears, saying that security checked the credential of Curry’s father because he looked like a well-known con artist who had snuck into previous NBA events.
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From ESPN:
NBA security was on alert during Game 6 of the NBA Finals to find David Aminzadeh, who previously has sneaked in to countless major sporting events, an NBA official told The Undefeated. Quicken Loans Arena security officials checked the credentials of the father of Curry's wife, Ayesha, because they thought he looked like Aminzadeh, before determining they were mistaken, an NBA official said ... The con artist previously had been arrested at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game slam dunk contest in Brooklyn, New York, according to the official.
Exiting the arena, Stephen Curry told ESPN that “[Security] kind of profiled my father-in-law and thought he was [Aminzadeh]. They threatened to arrest him before they checked out his credentials. It’s kind of been an emotional and tough night all the way around ”
Ayesha Curry also complained on Twitter of being held out of the arena before tip, claiming it was a “tactic” used by the Cavaliers, but the New York Post reported the incident was due to nothing more than congestion in the parking garage.
Curry fouled out of Golden State’s Game 6 loss late in the fourth quarter and threw his mouthguard at a fan. He was fined $25,000 for his actions on Friday.
The series heads back to Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. for Game 7 on Sunday.
– Kenny Ducey
