Nikola Jokic’s brother Strahinja has been arrested after punching a man in the face at a Denver Nuggets game.
He was charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and appeared in Denver County Court on Tuesday, according to records obtained by the Denver Post.
The 41-year-old was caught on camera at Ball Arena when he allegedly assaulted the man during his brother’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers in April.
Cops first learned about the heated altercation through a now-viral TikTok video that showed ‘well-known family members of Denver Nuggets player Nikola Jokic engaging in an altercation with an unidentified fan in the stands,’ according to an arrest affidavit for Strahinja.
Strahinja and his brother Nemanja Jokic had a ‘verbal exchange’ with a fan in the stands before he was knocked backwards by the force of Strahinja’s punch.
Nikola Jokic’s brother Strahinja has been arrested after punching a man at a Nuggets game
Shocking footage showed him swinging at an unidentified man, who suffered a concussion
When the man was interviewed by a Denver detective a few days later, he had cuts and bruising around and under his left eye.
He claimed the assault he suffered at the hands of a ‘big guy with a mohawk’ was unprovoked, and he was even diagnosed with a concussion.
According to the affidavit, he ‘initially didn’t want to press charges against Strahinja Jokic because he was afraid of retaliation and concerned for his family’s safety, but he changed his mind in early May.’
When contacted by local police, Strahinja said he believed he had done nothing wrong because ‘he was defending an older man whom he had known for a very long time.’
Strahinja will appear in court again for an arraignment hearing on August 21.
It was previously reported that the NBA was investigating the shocking incident, which flooded social media and showed Nikola’s wife Nataljia stood nearby, holding their young daughter.
This isn’t the first time Strahinja has been in trouble with police for violent behavior. He was arrested in 2019 for allegedly choking and pushing a woman.
The NBA star’s brother was charged with third-degree assault, and appeared in a Denver court
The man initially ‘didn’t want to press charges … because he was afraid of retaliation’
The Denver Post reported that Strahinja got violent when the woman tried to leave his apartment and that he said he would choke her ‘until she fell asleep’. He was also alleged to have taken her phone away when she tried to call 911.
In February 2002, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of obstruction of phone service and felony trespassing, while other charges were dropped.
He got a deferred sentence and was told the charges would be dropped as long as he didn’t commit another crime by February 3, 2022.
Meanwhile, Nikola raised eyebrows when he gave some very candid quotes about his unusual upbringing with his older brother.
He told Sports Illustrated in 2017 that Strahinja ‘once held down my arms and threw knives all around my head’ after refusing to climb a tree with him.
‘That was a little crazy,’ he added.
