Have any of you heard that BJ Penn has been arrested. I havn't got a link to the article but apparently he punched an officer (i think he was in unform) from the blind side after a party. The officer got back up and chased Penn and tackled him and was pulled off by a group of men. Penn is out on bail and if found guilty could face up to 5 years in prison.
It's abit of a stupid thing to do if you ask me; doesn't make the sport look too good either! Here's the article taken from sherdog.com:
http://www.kgmb.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=4590 that's a link to a Honolulu news channel. From the Honolulu Advertiser: Martial artist faces assault charge By Peter Boylan Advertiser Staff Writer Posted on: Monday, May 9, 2005 Police yesterday charged a top Hilo martial artist with first-degree assault after he allegedly punched a police officer outside a Waikiki nightclub hosting a post-event party for Saturday's professional fight card at the Blaisdell Center Arena. B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn, 26, was arrested early yesterday outside the Zanzabar Night Club on Kuhio Avenue after he allegedly hit Oscar Pauoa, 42, a uniformed police officer who was on a special-duty assignment at a party for the participants of the "Rumble on the Rock 7" mixed martial arts competition. Penn is the top-ranked welterweight mixed martial arts fighter in MMAFighting.net's world rankings. Mixed martial arts is a combat sport in which competitors may punch, kick, choke, throw and use other techniques. Police said Pauoa, who was hit in the face, and another officer working at the club had gone outside to break up a fight among a large group of men. Police said the officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Penn, who police said was in the crowd, allegedly hit Pauoa with a blind-side punch to his left eye and tried to run away, police said. Pauoa ran after Penn and tackled him, but was immediately jumped by several other men in the crowd who tried to pull the officer off Penn, police said. At that moment, District 6 patrol officers arrived, pulled the men off Pauoa and arrested Penn on suspicion of assaulting a law-enforcement officer in the first degree, a Class C felony. If convicted, Penn faces up to five years in jail. His bail was set at $20,000. Pauoa was taken by ambulance to Straub Hospital, where he was treated and released. Jim Boersema, co-owner of Zanzabar, said he hired two uniformed special-duty police officers for Saturday's post-fight party and sectioned off a portion of the club to give the fighters privacy. He said there were about 600 people in the club at closing time. "We didn't have any problems," he said. Penn's brother, J.D. Penn — president of Rumble on the World Entertainment, which promoted Saturday's fight — said the company is looking into the arrest. Rumble on the World is the largest promoter and organizer of mixed martial arts competitions in the state. "It's definitely not good; we're still investigating everything that happened," J.D. Penn said. He said further inquires about his brother's case would be handled by Honolulu attorney Michael Green. Green acknowledged yesterday that he is representing Penn but declined further comment. Penn did not fight Saturday night but attended the fight to support his brother and fighters who compete and train with B.J. Penn's Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Hilo. Rumble on the World is a Hilo-based company that produces and markets mixed martial arts events and TV productions. Penn also runs the BJ Penn Jiu-jitsu Academy in Kona. The arrest was the second recent negative allegation against Rumble on the World Entertainment. Last week, police opened an investigation into allegations that a Waimanalo boxing coach entered a 14-year-old boy into a "Rumble on the Rock" qualifying event against a 32-year-old professional fighter March 11. The arrest and investigation come at a time when the Legislature has passed a bill with new regulations for the sport. Gov. Linda Lingle has until July 12 to sign Senate Bill 768, which addresses conduct and permits for martial arts fights and requires promoters to put specific safeguards in place. It also would levy a fine of up to $10,000 for infractions. The state believes the rules are necessary to regulate a violent activity that's gaining in popularity. The "Rumble on the Rock 6" in November 2004 sold more than 8,000 tickets, according to the company. J.D. Penn acknowledged that his brother's arrest, coupled with the allegations of a minor fighting a man, are damaging. "It's definitely not good at the same time, but when it rains, it pours," he said yesterday. "That 14-year-old (fighting in a match), we would never let that happen. We're investigating to figure out what went wrong." He said he supports regulation as a way to legitimize and recognize the sport. Regulation also allows the sport to move into the mainstream, he said, and would force everyone involved to play by the same rules and work together, he said. In less than two years, Rumble World Entertainment, formerly Prodigy Productions, has transformed "Rumble on the Rock" from a small Hilo-based show into a globally recognized event broadcast in 90 countries, according to a company press release.
It'll be interesting to see BJ Penn's side of the story. Based on the info we have now - it seem's incredibley dumb. :bang: Given his background and that from what I read it seems to be a sucker punch. That can't look good in court. Though somehow that this happened in Hawaii doesn't surprise me much. Maybe there parties are like their surf breaks... incredibley Alpha-male and territorial. Long gone are the days when punching out a cop wasn't a felony. As for Hawaii I am not sure when it changed but in California it used to be misdemeanor. As you can guess there were lots more cops getting punched out then. Then again there were many cops back then willing to get involved in an all-in punch up. My how times have changed.
Maybe the cop will go into MMA... sounds like he can take a punch, outrun a pro-MMAer, and take him down. (I'll hold off on any "th3 str33t" comments....)
Crap, i was about to say the same thing thomas... Wait, i have another...Maybe it was Cro-Cop giving chase?? Hahaha...Not funny? oh well :love:
I am surprised that the cop could take one of Penn's punches and get straight back up (especially from the blind side). He is either very lucky, very tough, or Penn didn't hit him very hard. Incredably disgraceful and stupid from Penn though (as others have said) and he has got to face the consequences.
As stupid as his behaviour was, I sometimes think too much is made out of the image that MMA needs, the image that boxing needs etc. You're ALWAYS going to have bad apples, and you're ALWAYS going to have people who latch onto every news story with the merest hint of a link between someone's pastime and their violent behaviour. People will always be stupid like that, but we know better. Anyone with half a brain can see that BJ Penn is a one-off - who cares what a bunch of idiots think?
No doubt the media will blow it out of proportion; this reason alone should have made BJ Penn think twice before punching a cop.
Here's the latest on the situation from MMAWeekly BJ Penn's lawyer says he believes Penn will not have to serve any time for his involvement in a fight this weekend after the Rumble on the Rock event. The following article is from the NBC affiliate in Honolulu. "The lawyer for a professional fighter says his client was just trying to help out his brother when a huge fight in Waikiki broke out. But authorities say BJ Penn assaulted a police officer, and Sunday morning, he was booked and charged. Penn's lawyer Michael Green says from what he's heard, there's no way Penn would've gone out looking to attack a police officer. Penn is a successful mixed martial arts fighter. He's been doing it for 8 years and has fought all around the world. On Saturday night, he was involved in a mob fight outside the Zanzabar nightclub on Seaside Avenue. Green says Penn was leaving when he noticed his brother was still in the middle of the mob. He says Penn went back to get his brother, and that's when the officer was hit. "A guy come up from the side of him, and he can't see, and he just shoves a guy and it turns out that was the policeman," said Green. "He had no idea a policeman was involved til later on." Green says everyone he's talked to says Penn is not the kind of guy who'd go out looking for trouble, and calls what happened that night an aberration. Green is hoping cooler heads will previal in this case, but says he is ready to go to trial. Penn is scheduled to appear in court on the charge on Wednesday..
I wonder if his MMA involvement counts against him - ie the average joe could think he enjoys violence etc
He'll get off with it. If it was a blind sided punch the officer who got hit obviously never seen who hit him. Then its down to the other officers word (who may or may not have seen it) against Penns unless there's other witness's that seen it but they could back up either sides story. Penn could say he pushed into the officer in the fracas and seen someone else hit the officer but didnt know if it was intentional or who it was and in the obvious confusion he was singled out, possibly because of his status as a known Pro fighter.
What would you expect a defense attorney to say He's gotta protect the interest of his client. If that was in fact the case, there should have been no reason for him to run from the Police. As it is all we are doing is relying on the media's take on things, cuz we weren't there
Exactly. Every time you see somebody go up on an assault charge do you look at their background, find they are an accountant and say that they are making all accountants look bad? Why people can never seem to seperate the person from what they do is what I can never figure out. Then again, that is the reason that their actions do give MMA a bad name is because people have limited thinking capacity and associate the behaviour outside of the ring with the MMA organization rather than the stupid idiot who did the deed.
BJ Penn should have just tapped when he was arrested by the officer! The cop would have had to let him go. Agree that allegedly sucker punching a police officer is not a good thing for the image of MMA.
Yeah, uhm, the whole running thing? Usually bad news in front of a jury. Jurors don't like hearing that people ran away from the scene of the crime, especially when they've just clocked an officer. Maybe he did pull his punch, but he still struck an officer. He may not get jail time, I don't know Hawai'i criminal law at all, but he hit a cop, plain and simple. The facts indicate that he may not have known it was a cop when he threw the punch, but running is generally perceived as evidence of guilt. And to answer the question about "MMA image". In PA, we have what's called the "one punch" rule. If someone threatens me, and I believe the threat is credible and throw a single punch and break the guys nose, I cannot be charged with Felony Assault. Unless I have served in the miltary, been a pro fighter, OR HAVE ADVANCED AMATEUR MA TRAINING. And if you think we don't look, guess again. I've had State's Attorneys try to convince a court that HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING qualified as a combat sport and therefore the defendant should have been held to the higher standard. That's another reason why MMAers need to watch the image. Not only are they perceived as thuggish at times, but legally martial artists inn general are held to a higher legal standard.
