The mother of Miami Heat star LeBron James was arrested for simple battery and disorderly intoxication after a confrontation with a valet at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau hotel Thursday morning.
Gloria James, 43, was taken into custody after allegedly striking a valet at the posh hotel at 4441 Collins Ave. around 5 a.m., according a Miami Beach Police report.
According to the report, James had requested her vehicle from the valet who quickly brought it to the valet ramp.
The car was left running for 30 minutes as James talked to other hotel patrons, according to the report. The valet finally turned off the SUV and gave the keys to the valet cashier.
A short time later, James came looking for her car, saying "where are my f---ing keys" and yelling profanities at the valet, according to the report.
"Then, for no apparent reason [James] struck the victim with an open hand across the right side of his face and in the process causing herself to lose her balance and falling to the ground," the report states.
When police arrived, James was in the SUV with another woman behind the wheel, about to leave. When an officer asked her what happened, she refused to speak, according to the report.
The woman behind the wheel allegedly told the officer that James and the valet had a "verbal altercation" over how he retrieved her car and that they "got up into each others faces over the incident."
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The valet was later identified by police as Sorel Rockefeller.
The report states James told the other woman not to give the officer anything.
James was arrested and placed in a patrol car. She had bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, according to the report.
At the police station, James was "very uncooperative," according to the report. "I'm trying to trust you but I don't trust your kind," she allegedly told an officer.
After refusing to have her picture taken, James was released early Thursday morning to Heat exec Steve Stowe, who had no comment.
LeBron, however, addressed questions from journalists at practice Thursday.
"You have to move forward. It is my life. Just try to not let things be a distraction. I have a job to do," ESPN's Michael Wallace quoted in a Tweet. "It's very sensitive because it's your mother, of course. People around me are helping me, helping her."
It isn't the first time the mother of the NBA superstar has been involved with the law. She was arrested on DWI charges in Cleveland in 2006 while LeBron was with the Cavaliers.
