My opinion of Shaquille O'Neal just improved

SzczerbiakManiac · 09-14-2005, 11:45 AM

I've never been a fan of Shaq (as a person—his on-court skills are undeniable.) To me he's always come across as a pompous ass. But the following story from OutSports has me looking at him in a slightly different light.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OutSports

Shaq chases down gay-bashers: Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal helped the police arrest a man suspected of assaulting a gay couple over the weekend.

Shaq was driving around South Beach at 3 a.m. on Saturday when he noticed a man, Michael Gonzalez, 18, yell anti-gay slurs at the couple from a car. Gonzalez then got out of the car and threw a bottle at the two men, hitting one of them. Gonzalez then got back into the car. As it sped off, O'Neal trailed behind, flagging down a police officer who arrested the man.

O'Neal has long talked about how he intends to become a police officer after his basketball-playing days are over. In fact, he is in the process of joining the Miami Beach police.

"For this incident I don't want to be credited as an individual who does police work," O'Neal said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "I want to be credited as a Miami Beach police officer."

I can only imagine that the alleged attacker had a second thought about when he'd done when he noticed he was being trailed by a 7-foot-1 brick house.
—Cyd Zeigler jr.