Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Accused of Battery

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office charged retired pro basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with battery Monday for his actions in an apparent misunderstanding over a parking space in Westwood last spring.

Abdul-Jabbar was charged with one misdemeanor count of battery and one count of false imprisonment, said city attorney’s office spokesman Mike Qualls.

The alleged victim, Jerry Cohen, a music editor at Universal Studios, contended in a civil suit filed against Abdul-Jabbar in July that the 50-year-old former Los Angeles Lakers center slammed him against a store window and then onto the ground outside the Bigg Chill frozen yogurt shop in a small strip mall at Olympic and Westwood boulevards on April 20.

Abdul-Jabbar, who is 7 feet tall, wrapped his hands around the neck of Cohen, who is 5-foot-7, the civil suit alleged.

Cohen had been waiting for a parking spot in a small, often congested parking lot, backing up traffic. After he got the spot, he was approached by Abdul-Jabbar and assaulted, Cohen contends.

In court documents related to the civil suit, Abdul-Jabbar said he was en route to visit his dying mother when Cohen blocked traffic. Abdul-Jabbar admitted in the document that he grabbed Cohen by the back of his collar, but contended that Cohen made an obscene gesture at him. Cohen has denied this, saying that he was only pointing at the parking space he wanted.

Abdul-Jabbar will be arraigned Jan. 29 in West Los Angeles Municipal Court. He will be notified of the charges by letter, according to Qualls.

Qualls said Cohen reported the incident to police the day it occurred.

Abdul-Jabbar’s agent, Dominic Sandifer, declined to comment. “We don’t have any information, and we don’t know anything about it. It’s a surprise to us,” he said. “Obviously there was an incident that took place, and we have a different contention as to what happened.”

The civil suit is still pending. “We’re in the process of trying to settle it,” Sandifer said.

The battery charge against Abdul-Jabbar carries a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. The false imprisonment charge carries a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.