Dennis Rodman is maintaining his innocence after being charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly slapping a man.
Police insiders tell TMZ that the incident took place in May at the Buddha Sky Bar in Delray Beach, Florida. The former NBA star was at the bar to celebrate his birthday. Per the sources, Rodman "unprovokedly turned around and smacked" Jeff Soulouque multiple times. Soulouque says that Rodman invited him out to dinner to make up for hitting him in the face, but he declined. The 30-year-old went to the hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a left corneal abrasion. The following day, Soulouque filed a criminal complaint against Rodman.
During their investigation, police stumbled upon a witness named David Lee Roth (not the vocalist from Van Halen). In his statement to the authorities, Roth claimed he was "about twenty feet away and he saw Rodman turn around and open hand smack Soulouque two times." This prompted the police to hit Rodman with a misdemeanor battery charge. In the state of Florida, this carried a maximum sentence of a year in jail, 12 months of probation, and a $1,000 fine. Yet when Rodman's attorney appeared in court on his behalf, the lawyer insisted his client was innocent and entered a not guilty plea, NBC News reports.
This follows accusations that Rodman and his friends stole over $500 worth of clothes from an upscale yoga studio in Southern California. In May, Rodman and company were caught on camera taking the clothes and breaking a $2,500 crystal art piece. But, Rodman claims that these items were gifts for helping the store's manager "move the crystal."
