Former Seton Hall star Herb Pope was arrested after pulling a gun at a Pittsburgh area bar on New Year’s Eve, according to CBS Pittsburgh.
Police said Pope, an ex-standout forward for the Pirates, was denied entry at the Colonial Grill in Ambridge, Pa., when one of his friend’s IDs was rejected. Officers were present at the time, but after leaving, Pope returned to confront the owner with a gun.
“It was in his jacket,” officer Brian Brooks of the Ambridge Police Department told CBS. “He pulled it out with his right hand simply to show, ‘Hey, this is how it’s gonna be.’ You know, the cops are gone, nobody’s around; as an intimidation factor. He didn’t make any threatening remarks or anything like that; he just simply showed the weapon.”
The owner called 911 and the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Pope ran into an alley — and straight into several officers who happened to be doing surveillance work in an unrelated case.
“He took off running and it just happened to be that he ran in the wrong alleyway,” Brooks said. “He ran directly between four officers.We were on the northern side and two other officers were on the southern end of the alleyway. And he ran right between us.”
Pope, who graduated from Seton Hall in the spring of 2012, is being charged with simple assault through menace and public intoxication. He had a permit for the gun.
Pope has had brushes with the law in the past, getting arrested for DUI last year. In 2007, he was shot five times.
The big man averaged 15.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game last year at Seton Hall and was not selected in the NBA Draft. He signed a pro contract in Israel over the summer.