Ex-Nets star Jayson Williams 'suicidal' at Manhattan hotel; Tasered after showdown with NYPD cops.Cops Tasered ex-NBA star Jayson Williams Monday after the troubled hoopster went nuts in his luxury Manhattan hotel room, police sources said.
The popular New Jersey Nets center, who beat the rap trial for shooting his chauffeur in 2002, was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital in handcuffs after cops found suicide notes and empty bottles of pills in his room, sources said.
"He was barricaded, drinking, taking pills. He was overwhelmed," a police source said. "It all came crashing down."
Police were called to the Hilton Embassy Suites in Battery Park City at 4 a.m., after a female friend called security to report a disturbance in Williams' 15th-floor suite, the sources said.
Williams, 41, trashed his room, forcing Emergency Service Unit officers to subdue the former All-Star with a Taser gun, sources said. It took two sets of handcuffs to restrain the husky star, cops said.
Cops found several suicide notes, including a message scrawled on the wall. They said he was distraught over his divorce, his parents' illnesses and his impending retrial in the chauffeur-shooting case.
Guests arrived home to find the posh hotel transformed into a crime scene. "There were about cop cars and an ambulance outside," said Annette Peters, 29, of Minneapolis.
It was not immediately known if he injured himself or if he was armed.
A few hours later, Williams' manager insisted the troubled ex-athlete was on the mend.
"Jayson is doing fine. He said he was fine," said Akhtar Farzaie, his manager and friend, outside the hospital emergency room. "All of us are here to be by his side as friends."
His ex-wife, Tanya Young Williams, also arrived at the hospital to join him.
In 2002, Williams was charged with gunning down 55-year-old limo driver Costas "Gus" Christofi at the former player's sprawling "Who Knew?" estate in Alexandria Township, N.J.
Williams, who was hosting a party for a charity basketball game that included several Harlem Globetrotters, had hired to Christofi to drive for the event.
Prosecutors charged that Williams was goofing off with a shotgun while giving a tour of this palatial home and the weapon went off, killing Christofi.
"I always expected that he would do something violent again if he wasn't stopped," said Andrea Adams, Christofi's sister. "He's very careless. He's violent and he doesn't care."
Williams was cleared of the most serious charges. The jury deadlocked on the count of reckless manslaughter.
In 2006, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Williams could be retried on that charge. No trial date has been set. The hoop star paid Christofi's family $2.75 million to settle a wrongful death suit.
"He had a lot of demons, a dark side that would surface every now and then," said a person who knew Williams when he played eight seasons for New Jersey.
The Nets source said Williams is usually a gregarious and fun-loving person, but seems to need a structured lifestyle.
"He needs something to fill his time," the source said. "You hate to see him hurt himself, but this was a guy with a lot of demons."
Earlier this year, Williams' estranged wife claimed in divorce papers he once threatened to kill her and their two daughters.
Tanya Young Williams claimed in court papers that her husband punched out a car window while the couple's daughters sat inside and hurt himself while coming home drunk.
Williams, who became a city high school basketball star at Christ the King High School in Queens, went on to star at St. John's University. He was drafted in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft and debuted with the Philadelphia 76ers. He blossomed into a star with the New Jersey Nets after a 1992 trade and remains one of the franchise's all-time leading rebounders.
Original Source : http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/04/27/2009-04-27_exnets_star_jayson_williams_.html
