UCLA Basketball: Mac Etienne Arrested After Allegedly Spitting on Arizona Fan
The incident occurred as the team was heading back to the locker room after losing to the Wildcats.
After last night’s loss to Arizona, redshirt freshman forward Mac Etienne was arrested and cited for assault after appearing to spit on an Arizona fan, according to a report from ESPN.
ESPN’s article includes footage of the incident in question. Barstool Sports Arizona’s Twitter feed has video of the incident from a different angle.
ESPN’s article describes Etienne’s arrest:
Etienne returned to the locker room with his team before University of Arizona police officers told him he would be placed under arrest and issued a citation for assault with "the intent to injure, provoke or insult" another person, Sgt. Sean Shields, the public information officer for University of Arizona police, told ESPN late Thursday.
Etienne was not placed in handcuffs, Shields said.
"We allowed him to go with the team back to the locker room," Shields said. "And he was arrested for assault."
UCLA issued a statement late last night:
UCLA Athletics is committed to and expects the highest level of sportsmanship. We are aware of the incident involving a student-athlete at tonight's men's basketball game, and the matter is under review.
It’s one thing for the team to lose to Arizona. It’s something else for a player to appear to act like this.
Go Bruins.
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I think it’s important to wait for all the facts. At first glance, it looks really bad. That being said, there have been numerous accounts of really bad fan behavior in recent years. There’s a 49ers fan in a hospital in a medical induced coma after the most recent playoff game. We can always do what Arizona would do, or SC. We can suspend Mac for the ASU game.
While I do not condone Mac's behavior in any way (if you have ever been spit on you know how truly disgusting it is), I am getting frustrated with the fan behavior teams are subjected to (in all sports). I have commented in both the Colorado and Arizona game threads about the vile language being hurled from the crowds. Interestingly if you listen to the radio feed, none of that is bleeped out. The announcers are even commenting on it and I am pretty sure Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray have heard foul language before so it makes me wonder what else is being yelled from the stands. Most of it seems to be coming from the student sections. Honestly, I feel sorry for the athletes in a lot of ways. A "hostile environment" doesn't even begin to describe some of these gyms. A very sad time for the Bruins. I too will wait for all the facts to come out.