Ex-basketball player pleads guilty after forcing another car off the road and into a concret wall on California Interstate 5

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The former basketball star Dennis Rodman has received three years’ probation for going the wrong way on a California highway, forcing another car to crash.



Rodman was also sentenced to 30 hours of community service and ordered to donate $500 to a victim witness emergency fund after pleading guilty, the Orange county district attorney’s office said.

Rodman’s attorney, Paul Meyer, said in an emailed statement: “We appreciate the careful review of the district attorney to make the right call.” Meyer said the incident was caused by “poor sign placement” on the roadway.

Prosecutors initially charged Rodman, 55, with hit-and-run causing property damage, driving a motor vehicle across a dividing section, giving false information to a police officer and driving without a valid licence.

Rodman, a National Basketball Association forward with teams including the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, drove his sport utility vehicle the wrong way on Interstate 5 in Santa Ana early on 20 July, prosecutors said.

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The driver of a sedan going the correct way swerved to avoid a head-on collision with Rodman’s SUV and crashed into a concrete wall along the carpool lane, prosecutors said. Meyer said the crash was documented as a non-injury collision.

The driver of the sedan called 911 and California highway patrol officers responded. When they arrived Rodman had driven away, prosecutors said.

Investigators determined Rodman was the SUV driver but when they eventually spoke to him he gave false information, prosecutors said.

The hit-and-run was discharged after the court accepted a civil compromise between Rodman and the victim, prosecutors said. Rodman pleaded guilty to the remaining three misdemeanours on Monday afternoon in an Orange county court.

The district attorney’s office said Rodman was ordered to pay restitution as part of his sentence but Meyer said the restitution had already been deemed completed.

Rodman, nicknamed the Worm during his playing career, is considered one of the best defensive players and rebounders in NBA history. He won five league championships with Detroit and Chicago and is a member of basketball’s Hall of Fame.

He was convicted at least twice of driving under the influence, in 2000 and 2004, according to media reports at the time.

Rodman made international headlines in 2013 by visiting North Korea, where he socialised with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and later invited him to “do me a solid” by releasing American prisoner Kenneth Bae.