Two fans claim Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin sent a friend into the Pepsi Center stands to confront them during the team’s loss to Chicago on Wednesday night. Both also said Martin confronted them after the game. Martin denied the claims.
“I know the person (who went into the stands), but I didn’t direct nobody to go into the stands,” Martin said Thursday. “I was watching the game.”
Martin spoke testily before a swarm of media sparked by the fans calling into radio station KKFN Thursday morning to detail their experiences. The two men, who said they do not know each other, recounted in separate phone interviews Thursday afternoon that Martin shifted his focus from the game to them and tried to intimidate them afterward.
One fan, Donald Miller, said he was with his son in seats behind the Nuggets’ bench when he heard a man seated behind him call Martin a “chump” for not being suited up. He said Martin heard the remark, turned and then talked to a friend sitting in the front row, who then approached Miller. Miller said the man made remarks about his weight and said, “You’re going to get hurt, white boy.”
Miller said he responded that he had not said anything. The man, whom Martin would not identify, then went two rows further up, to Ronald Souza, who admits he was the heckler.
“He said, ‘Shut your mouth before we take you outside and beat (you up),”‘ Souza recalled the man saying.
Souza and Miller said the man again threatened Miller on his way back down to his seat.
The men gave statements to arena security and an off-duty police officer, and they said Martin returned to the floor after the game and yelled at them. They said Martin was eventually taken inside, and after a second friend of Martin’s yelled at them, police escorted Miller and his son to their car.
Martin denied any postgame incident, saying, “I didn’t talk to nobody. I went home.”
Denver police spokeswoman Virginia Quiñones said Martin claimed he did not ask anyone to confront a fan. Police concluded based on interviews that Martin did interact with the fans during the game and that he and two friends walked up to the fans and exchanged words after the game. No charges were filed.
“If they had made any threat then they would have been cited,” Quiñones said.
Neither Miller nor Souza was satisfied with Pepsi Center security.
“Security didn’t take this seriously. There could have been huge, huge problems,” Miller said.Souza added: “They didn’t take care of it at all.”
Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe called the claim that Martin sent his friend into the stands “ridiculous” and “unfortunate.” As to the fans’ complaints about security, he said, “I have great confidence in our security and they responded very, very quickly.” An NBA spokesperson said the league is investigating the matter.
Miller said a Nuggets representative asked him Thursday whether he wanted compensation, which he declined.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell contributed to this report.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
