Former Dallas Maverick D.J. Mbenga was arrested for public intoxication at 4 a,m, after putting his hand on a police officer's chest, according to Dallas police. The arrest took place at the Buzzbrews Kitchen restaurant at Fitzhugh Avenue and the North Central Expressway.

WFAA-TV (Channel 8), which

first reported the on the arrest

, cited a Dallas police report in giving this account:

As Mbenga was trying to leave the restaurant, two Dallas police officers were walking in.

The 7-1 center put his palm on the chest of one of the cops and said, “You move out of my way.”

The officer stopped and said, “You don’t touch police, let alone make that statement.”

To which Mbenga -- perhaps, in hindsight, inadvisedly -- responded: “You want to go? I do what I want, so you move out of the way!”

As the officers escorted Mbenga out of the restaurant, he continued to argue with them.

The officers smelled alcohol on his breath and noted his "unsteady balance” and bloodshot eyes. They said he failed three of six field sobriety tests.

The 31-year-old was handcuffed and taken to the Dallas County jail.

Police said they were told by witnesses at Buzzbrews that Mbenga had earlier been acting aggressively toward members of the restaurant staff and toward a woman who was with him at the restaurant.

Mbenga, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was drafted by the Mavericks in 2004 and spent three seasons with the club.

The Mavs cut him just before the start of the 2007 season to clear a spot on the roster for

Juwan Howard

, who, even then, was almost fossilized.

At the time Mbenga was released, our Eddie Sefko described him as "7-foot package of raw athleticism." This may sound, to the uninitiated, like a compliment. It is not.

After the Mavs, Mbenga put in stints with the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers (where he rode the bench for two years and collected two championship rings) and the New Orleans Hornets. He spent last season playing overseas.

In September, the Mavericks

brought him back

on a trial basis. He was

waived three weeks later

.

He supposedly told the officers who arrested him that he was about to sign with the Toronto Raptors.

In his NBA career, he's averaged 6.7 minutes, 1.5 rebounds and 1.8 minutes a game.