Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers basketball player dismissed, faces deportation

Published Mar. 12, 2019 3:01 p.m. ET

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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers University basketball player Issa Thiam has been dismissed from the team and faces deportation after his arrest on domestic violence charges.

Thiam, a junior forward from Dakar, Senegal, is accused of slapping a woman and swinging a knife at her after she refused to give up her cellphone.

The Asbury Park Press reports his attorney Charles Sciarra said after Thiam's release from jail Tuesday that his client is "still in shock."

Sciarra said Thiam has "no ill feelings toward Rutgers." He said his client denies threatening the woman with a knife.

Thiam was suspended indefinitely after his arrest Friday, and then dismissed from the team Monday.

He has been charged with simple assault, false imprisonment and making terroristic threats among other offenses.

NJ.com reports Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell says the team has had many obstacles this year, and this is another one they will have to fight through.

Thiam has been ordered to surrender his passport, and a judge has barred him from Rutgers University campus.

He is due back in court April 5.

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