Cole Buckley, the 21-year-old arrested for throwing a water bottle at Kyrie Irving at TD Garden after Game 4 Sunday night, is out on $500 bail after being arraigned at Boston Municipal Court Wednesday.
Buckley pled not guilty to a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and despite being released on bail, he has been ordered to stay out of TD Garden – and still faces a lifetime ban issued by the building itself – and will return to court August 5 for a pre-trial hearing.
"It is not lost on me that he chose to do this in a sport that is overwhelmingly Black men. We are not going to allow this trend to continue. Period. End of story. We have not charged him with a race-based hate crime or civil rights violation but you don't get to behave this way," Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins told reporters after the arraignment. "If I showed up at your job and threw a bottle at your head and it hit you or grazed you, you would want me to charge a felony on that, and I would."
Buckley did not speak to reporters after leaving the courtroom. His attorney had filed a motion to postpone the arraignment but it was denied, according to multiple Boston media reports.
Per CBS Boston, the University of Rhode Island student is facing possible sanctions from both that school and his fraternity, and his actions drew a strong rebuke from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker as well.
"No one should ever throw anything at anyone, fan to fan, fan to player, you're automatically putting someone in danger when you do that," Baker said Wednesday.
Buckley's incident was one of three at TD Garden from Game 4 – two others were also arrested for assaut on a police officer – and one of several in a rough two-week stretch that has seen multiple NBA series marred by deplorable fan interaction with opposing (and sometimes home) players.
"There is a growing and disturbing trend in the NBA of players being physically and verbally assaulted with profanity and blatantly racist statements. That behavior is completely unacceptable," DA Rollins said.
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