JR Smith arrested in Texas on family violence charge — SkimNews
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- JR Smith, 41, was booked into Hunt County Detention Center on Monday on a charge of assault causing "bodily injury family violence," according to jail records, and remained jailed with no bond set as of midday Tuesday.
- Royse City Police arrested Smith on a Southlake Police Department warrant after officers spotted his license plate on Interstate 30 northeast of Dallas; Smith was driving with his brother, who was released with the car.
- Southlake Police spokesperson told ESPN the department could not release further information on the case at this time, and Smith's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Smith has a prior brush with the law: in 2009, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail (60 suspended) and 500 hours of community service for reckless driving after a 2007 car accident that killed a friend, telling the court "it's been unbearable to deal with. I'm deeply sorry."
- Smith played 16 NBA seasons for the New Orleans Hornets, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers, winning two championships and earning 2013 Sixth Man of the Year honors before his final game in 2020.
- After his NBA career, Smith played college golf at North Carolina A&T and graduated from the historically Black university in May, a comeback arc now shadowed by his pending Texas case.
Why it matters: Smith's arrest on a family violence charge — with no bond set and the case file sealed by Southlake PD — layers a new criminal proceeding on top of his 2009 reckless-driving conviction tied to a friend's death, and lands just weeks after he completed a feel-good post-NBA reinvention by graduating from North Carolina A&T in May.
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