LOS ANGELES ā Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony domestic violence charges filed by Los Angeles County prosecutors after he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend in front of their two children.
District Attorney George GascĆ³n announced Tuesday that his office filed one felony count of injuring a childās parent and two felony counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
Recommended Videos
Bridges entered not guilty pleas during an arraignment, the DA's office said.
Bridges was arrested on June 29 by Los Angeles police and was later released on $130,000 bond.
The Hornets and the NBA both said they were aware of the charges filed against Bridges.
āThese are very serious charges that we will continue to monitor,ā the Hornets said. āAs this is a legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.ā
Mychelle Johnson, the mother of Bridgesā two young children, addressed the incident on Instagram on July 1, posting several pictures of injuries and a medical report that read āadult victim of physical abuse by male partner; Assault by strangulation, Brain concussion; Closed fracture of nasal bone; Contusion of rib; Multiple bruises; Strain of neck muscle.ā
āI hate that it has come to this but I canāt be silent anymore. Iāve allowed someone to destroy my home, abuse me in every way possible and traumatize our kids for life,ā Johnson wrote on Instagram. āI have nothing to prove to the world, but I wonāt allow anyone who could do something so horrible to have no remorse and paint a picture of something Iām not. I wonāt allow the people around him to continue to silence me and continue to lie to protect this person.ā
The 24-year-old Bridges is a restricted free agent who was expected to command big money in the free agent market this summer following a breakout season.
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Bridges was the Hornetsā leading scorer last season, averaging 20.2 points and seven rebounds in his fourth NBA season.
The Hornets have extended Bridges a qualifying offer allowing them a chance to match any offer sheet made by another team. The team had indicated prior to knowledge of Bridgesā arrest that it wanted to re-sign him.
___
More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports