{"id":202397,"date":"2026-03-23T13:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/202397\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:24:09","slug":"that-time-charles-barkley-threw-a-man-through-a-bar-window-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/202397\/","title":{"rendered":"That time Charles Barkley threw a man through a bar window in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stop us if you\u2019ve heard this one before: Charles Barkley walks into a bar, throws a 5-foot-2 immigrant through a plate-glass window and goes to jail.<\/p>\n

No joke, that\u2019s what happened in Orlando in October 1997 when Barkley and his Houston Rockets came to town for a NBA preseason game against the Magic. The story is today\u2019s Orlando Sentinel 150 Monday Memory.<\/p>\n

Barkley and man, Jorge Lugo, eventually reached a settlement out of court. Barkley also accepted a plea deal<\/a> had to perform community service in Orlando. Lugo, who had been arrested 10 times here and once told police his name was Pancho Villa, left town with a couple of suits from his lawyer, a young Mark NeJame. The attorney said he felt sorry for Lugo.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got on a bus and was never heard from again,\u201d NeJame said.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s part of the story that appeared at the top of our front page on Oct. 27, 1997 about the incident. It was written by Kenneth A. Harris and Tim Povtak:<\/p>\n

NBA All-Star Charles Barkley never backs down.<\/p>\n

And he never will, the Houston Rockets forward said, offering no apologies about wrestling a man from a police officer\u2019s grasp early Sunday and hurling him through a plate-glass window at Phineas Phogg\u2019s in Church Street Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they said happened, happened,\u201d Barkley said afterward of police and witness accounts. \u201cWhat he did was inappropriate. I\u2019m going to defend myself. Let there be no debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruckus at the bar erupted about 2 a.m., when Barkley chased a man witnesses say threw a glass at Karen Carrington of Deltona, who was sitting at Barkley\u2019s table. Barkley heaved the man, Jorge Lugo, through a plate-glass window and was arrested.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Orlando Sentinel front page with coverage of Charles Barkley’s bar incident in 1997. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n

Lugo, 20, an Orlando construction laborer, was released from Orlando Regional Medical Center after treatment for minor cuts to his upper right arm.<\/p>\n

Barkley was charged with aggravated battery, a felony, and resisting arrest without violence. He walked out of the Orange County Jail about 7:15 a.m. Sunday on $6,000 bail after Rockets guard Clyde Drexler, who was with Barkley at the downtown Orlando nightspot, bailed him out.<\/p>\n

Sunday evening, Barkley and the Rockets took the court for an exhibition game against the Orlando Magic, where he was ejected during the fourth quarter for a double technical foul. After arguing with an official, he punched the ball about 30 rows into the stands.<\/p>\n

The night before, Barkley had arrived at the bar between 11 and 11:30 p.m. An off-duty officer working at the nightspot, Jeffery Williams, said Barkley had been relaxing and signing autographs.<\/p>\n

Carrington said Barkley had tried to avoid a confrontation.<\/p>\n

\"\"She was sitting at a table with Barkley, Drexler and others when it started. She said Barkley ignored Lugo as he shouted curses and threw a cup of ice. She started to confront Lugo, but Barkley persuaded her to ignore him.<\/p>\n

But Lugo returned, she said. When he threw a glass, hitting Carrington in the jaw and knocking her off her chair, Barkley got angry, she said.<\/p>\n

Carrington, whose face was bruised, was wearing a neck brace later Sunday. She said she watched Barkley run outside and grab Lugo.<\/p>\n

Mark NeJame, an Orlando lawyer representing Lugo, invited photographers to take pictures of his client but would not allow questions.<\/p>\n

\"JorgeJorge Lugo, right, shows his injured arm that required stitches, with his lawyer Mark NeJame in Orlando on Oct., 26, 1997. Lugo was involved in an altercation early Sunday morning with Houston Rockets’ Charles Barkley at Church Street Station, which resulted in Lugo being thrown through a plate glass window by Barkley. Barkley was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and resisting arrest without violence, police said. He was jailed for five hours before being released on $6,000 bond. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden he finds himself being chased and hunted and being literally picked up and thrown through a window like a sack of potatoes,\u201d NeJame said.<\/p>\n

NeJame said his client, who is 5 feet 2 inches tall and 110 pounds, has witnesses to corroborate his version of the events.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did not throw either ice or the glass,\u201d NeJame said. \u201cIt\u2019s not to say somebody didn\u2019t, but it wasn\u2019t him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The police report said five witnesses, including a bar employee, said they saw Lugo throw the glass at Barkley, hitting the woman in the face.<\/p>\n

The off-duty officer said he spotted Lugo running toward the front with Barkley in pursuit. The officer grabbed Lugo, with Barkley tugging at Lugo\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n

The officer said he told Barkley: \u201cCharles, I will handle this. Let go. Charles, let me take care of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley responded: \u201cI will not hurt him. I just want to talk to him.\u201d When the officer radioed for assistance, Barkley grabbed Lugo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked up and saw the arrestee holding the victim up in the air by his arms, at which time the arrestee threw the victim into a plate-glass window,\u201d the officer wrote.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Blumberg (front) and Shannon White replace the damaged window at Phineas Phogg in downtown Orlando. Basketball player Charles Barkley threw a man threw the window after he allegedly threw a glass at a woman sitting at the table with Barkley in October 1997. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n

After Lugo went through the window, \u201cI grabbed the arrestee and pulled him away from the victim, who had slumped to the ground and was bleeding from a laceration on his upper right arm,\u201d the officer said.<\/p>\n

Barkley told reporters:\u00a0\u201cIf you bother me, I\u2019m going to whip your ass. The guy threw ice in my face, and I slammed his ass into the window. I\u2019m not denying that. I defended myself. He got what he deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Postscript: Later Barkley would say about the incident: \u201cI went from being a multimillionaire with a Rolex to a common criminal \u2013 all in 30 seconds. This was not a good trip for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And about this short time in jail in Orlando, Barkley said, \u201cThe police treated me well. I didn\u2019t have a cellmate. I thought there might be a big guy named Bubba waiting for me in the cell, wanting to bunk up with me. I was lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stop us if you\u2019ve heard this one before: Charles Barkley walks into a bar, throws a 5-foot-2 immigrant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[53370,114,266,115,139,141,140,53371,109],"class_list":["post-202397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-flashbacks","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-sentinel-150","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}