HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. -- A man walking down the street at
bar-closing time with a $190 cake in his arms claimed Los Angeles
Lakers center Kwame Brown swiped his birthday treat.
But authorities said the cake caper won't be prosecuted.
In a police report, Alexander Martinez said he left his 30th
birthday celebration at the Shore Restaurant and Lounge at about
1:45 a.m. Saturday with the uneaten 2-by-2-foot cake and walked
north toward the Blue 32 nightclub.
Martinez told police he first came upon Lakers forward Ronny
Turiaf, who he said agreed to pose for a photograph with him and
the chocolate cake.
But outside of Blue 32, the 6-foot-11, 270-pound Brown came
along, grabbed the cake and threw it at Martinez, according to the
report. Brown got into a white limousine and left, Martinez claimed
in the report, although he didn't suggest any reason for the cake
toss.
Martinez reported that he then walked up to Lamar Odom as the
Lakers forward left Pedone's Pizza and confronted him about the
cake, which was splattered on the birthday man's back.
A man believed to be Odom's bodyguard pushed Martinez into the
street, yelling at him to get away from Odom, the police report
said.
"Calm down, he didn't do anything," Odom told the man believed
to be his bodyguard, the report said.
Everyone then went their separate ways and Martinez filed a
police report 12 hours later.
Detectives presented a possible "grand theft of a person" case
to the city attorney's office, which decided not to prosecute.
Brown wasn't talking, but Lakers spokesman John Black said the
team was aware of the alleged incident and had been told
prosecutors were not filing charges. Black had no other comment.
The Lakers are on a three-game road trip through Saturday.
In July of 2006, a woman accused Brown of sexual assault. The
district attorney's office dropped the case after a medical exam of
the alleged victim was reviewed and revealed no signs of forcible
sexual assault.
Brown, averaging 8.7 points and 6.6 rebounds, has been sidelined
since spraining his right ankle on Dec. 31. He is expected back in
about two weeks.
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Information from: Daily Breeze, http://www.dailybreeze.com