Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. choked his girlfriend with such force in a New York City hotel room early Monday that he fractured one of the vertebrae in her neck, prosecutors said at a hearing Tuesday. Porter, 23, pleaded not guilty to felony assault and strangulation. He was released on $75,000 cash bond and ordered not to contact Kysre Gondrezick, a 26-year-old WNBA free agent, the New York Daily News reports. Porter had been in custody since his arrest around 6:45am Monday.
Prosecutors said Porter punched and choked Gondrezick in an attack that didn't stop until she ran into the hallway of the Millennium Hilton hotel covered in blood, the AP reports. Police sources tell the Daily News that Porter argued with Gondrezick after he returned from a late night to find he had been locked out the room. The alleged assault happened after hotel staff let Porter into the room, the source say. "This is a serious domestic violence case," Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Mirah Curzer said during Tuesday's hearing. Curzer said Porter had a history of abusing Gondrezick and rammed her car on one occasion.
Porter was ordered to return to court Oct. 16, the same day as a Rockets preseason game in San Antonio. "We are in the process of gathering information surrounding the matter involving Kevin Porter Jr.," the team said in a statement, per the AP. "We have no further comment at this time." ESPN reports that under the NBA's domestic violence policy, commissioner Adam Silver has the power to place Porter on leave with pay for "a reasonable period of time" while the case is ongoing. (More NBA stories.)
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