Man in Rodman Case Will Face Charges

NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman will not be prosecuted for public drunkenness, but a man who police said hampered their probe of Rodman’s confrontation last month with fans at a Newport Beach restaurant will be charged with obstructing an officer and marijuana possession, authorities said Wednesday.

Prosecutors could not prove that Rodman was legally drunk when he was arrested Aug. 21 at Woody’s Wharf, said Tori Richards, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney. A controversial figure on and off the court during much of his basketball career, Rodman was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public after he struck another patron during a scuffle, police said.

“We don’t have enough evidence to prove Rodman was so drunk that he couldn’t care for himself,” Richards said. “In reaching this decision, we talked to police officers and five separate witnesses at the bar.”

Not as fortunate is Donn Emerson, 36, of San Diego. Authorities said Emerson was a patron at the popular Newport Beach bar and eatery. Richards said he kept interfering with police as they tried to interview witnesses to Rodman’s run-in with a female patron and her male companion.

Emerson was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. When he was taken into custody, officers found 11.5 grams of marijuana on him, and he was also charged with marijuana possession. Both counts are misdemeanors, Richards said.

Emerson could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Richards said she did not know if he was with Rodman on the night of the incident.

Rodman’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, issued a written statement thanking prosecutors for dropping the case. “This matter has now been put to rest,” the statement said.

Rodman, known for his rainbow of hair colors, body piercings and rebounding ability, was at the restaurant that Saturday night when a female patron began harassing him, said Marty Ortegon, a waitress at Woody’s Wharf. Ortegon told reporters that Rodman is a regular there and “never gives anybody any trouble.”

Another witness said the unidentified woman was insulting Rodman, who responded to her taunts. But it was not clear what, if anything, he told the woman. At one point, the woman’s male companion grabbed Rodman. Police said Rodman then slapped the unidentified man.

Police were called, and Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott said that officers found Rodman loud and belligerent. According to a police account of the incident, officers asked Rodman to leave.

Police said Rodman, who lives in a Newport Beach waterfront home, became agitated and began jumping up and down. Rodman, nicknamed “The Worm,” hit his head against the ceiling, police said.

He refused to take a cab home or have someone sober drive him, police said, so they had no choice but to arrest him on suspicion of being drunk in public. On Wednesday, however, Richards said that prosecutors could not prove Rodman was intoxicated when arrested.

The twists and turns in Rodman’s well-publicized personal life continue even though the public drunkenness charge has been dropped. On Oct. 1--the date he would have appeared in court to enter a plea--Marie Boguszewski is scheduled to make a court appearance on charges of stalking Rodman on the Internet. Prosecutors allege that she threatened Rodman’s Newport Beach agents for failing to relay a message to him requesting a date.