Charge Added Against Payton

The reason Toronto police upgraded an assault charge against former Milwaukee Buck teammates Gary Payton, Sam Cassell and Jason Caffey stemming from a fight in April was that further investigation found that one of the participants in the altercation was injured.

Payton, Cassell and Caffey were previously charged with common assault in connection with an altercation outside a Toronto strip club, but on Friday police upgraded the charge to assault causing bodily harm.

They are accused of assaulting two men and two women outside the club after closing time while the Bucks were in Toronto to play the Raptors. Payton signed with the Lakers last weekend. Cassell was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on June 27.

According to Edward Greenspan, the players’ lawyer, prosecutors have indicated they will proceed with summary charges in the case, rather than more serious indictable charges.

“One of the people who made the allegation of assault at the time said that he suffered no injuries, but has now got some medical evidence that we have not seen that he did suffer some medical injury,” Greenspan said, adding he believed the injury was whiplash. “There’s no suggestion of serious bodily harm.”

He noted that police file charges in Canada that prosecutors later review, a different system than in the United States, where prosecutors file charges as a legal decision.

“The reality is that what happened [Friday] is what the police did all on their own, which the prosecutor several months down the road will review,” Greenspan said.

The maximum sentences for summary charges are 18 months for assault causing bodily harm and six months for common assault, Greenspan said.

Under the revised charges, Payton now faces two counts of common assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm, while Cassell faces one of each and Caffey a lone count of assault causing bodily harm.

Hours after the Bucks lost an NBA playoff game in New Jersey on April 19, Payton, Cassell and Caffey surrendered to police in Toronto and were charged with assault.