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Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon did not hit his son but was targeted by a ‘kiosk Karen’ at the airport, his ex-girlfriend and the boy’s stepmom has claimed.
The former Chicago Bulls shooting guard was arrested for allegedly hitting his son Elijah, 11, while they were in LaGuardia airport waiting for a Chicago-bound flight on Monday night.
Gordon, 39, shares his son with his ex-fiancé Sascha Smith, 32, and the 11-year-old was rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital with his aunt.
He also has a younger son, Lux, with Ashley Banks who has defended the athlete and claims he was doing ‘push ups’ with Elijah before being approached by airline staff.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘He’s just misunderstood. He’s a great father. He gives them the world.
‘Maybe his son wasn’t listening, and he reprimanded him. He’s a great person, just very misunderstood. His son is with him every day.’
Banks split from Gordon in 2020, after getting together in 2016 and having their son in 2018 – with the model admitting she was forced to get a restraining order against him ‘before he got help’.
She claims Gordon told her that a ‘kiosk Karen’ got involved in the situation before calling security, adding he was ‘triggered because he was with his son’.
Gordons ex-girlfriend Ashley Banks, pictured, claims that the athlete is ‘misunderstood’ and was ‘triggered’ by an ‘airport Karen’
Ben Gordon is accused of hitting his son while waiting to board a Chicago- bound flight at LaGuardia airport on Monday evening
He is accused of punching his 11-year-old son Elijah, pictured, so hard that he was rushed to the hospital by his aunt. Gordon shares the child with ex-fiancé Sascha Smith
The British-born basketballer is understood denying that he harmed his son and is currently still with police while Elijah is with his aunt.
Sources claim that the New York-raised star is expected to be charged with resisting arrest, among other charges.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Banks said: ‘Someone was being nosey. It was the kiosk lady.
‘She was just being a Karen. They got security and he was triggered because he was with his son.
‘My son’s father would never put his hands on his children. He lives and breathes air for his three boys.
‘It was the case of the airport Karen triggering another black man. She should be fired. He was just very upset. His son was not hurt, he wasn’t bruised and is with his aunt.
‘The lady was starting with them and called security and he was getting upset. The child is fine.
Gordon has previously admitted struggling with his mental health, writing an essay on the The Player’s Tribune in 2020 detailing his struggles with bipolar and mania – saying it was ‘terrifying’
Banks confirmed that she had previously had a restraining order against Gordon when he was struggling with his mental health, but the two now co-parent their son Lux together
The arrest is the latest in a string of clashes with the law for the troubled star, who played with the Chicago Bulls from 2004 to 2009 before joining the Detroit Pistons
‘I had lived with him for years. He’s a good man with a good heart. He’s had his mental health issues in the past.
‘I don’t know exactly what happened but it’s all just accusations. If it turns out to be true Ben has a great support system in place with all of us to help him.
‘It could be that other people saw him and thought it was child abuse. I don’t know the facts but I know him. He’s in a really good place now actually.’
Gordon has previously admitted struggling with his mental health, writing an essay on the The Player’s Tribune in 2020 detailing his struggles with bipolar and mania – saying it was ‘terrifying’.
He said he was admitted to a mental hospital, and ‘didn’t even understand why it was happening’, explaining that he lost his ‘career, identity and family pretty much simultaneously.’
Banks, who lives in LA, told how she lived with the NBA star for three years after they got together in late 2016.
Banks posted on Instagram defending Gordon, saying the woman who interfered with him and his son ‘should be fired’
Sascha Smith, pictured with Elijah, is the mother of the 11-year-old who Gordon is accused of punching. It is understood that she currently lives in Chicago
In June 2017 he was arrested for pulling the fire alarms at his Los Angeles apartment complex despite there being no blaze, going into ‘meltdown mode’ after getting locked out
She continued: ‘Ben is an advocate with children with special needs, writing children’s books and a very present father.
‘He trains children in his old neighborhood for free where he grew up in New York who are trying to go to the NBA.
‘I had a restraining order against him before he got help. He’s medicated now after finding one that helps him. I believe this was a misunderstanding.’
The arrest is the latest in a string of clashes with the law for the troubled star, who played with the Chicago Bulls from 2004 to 2009 before joining the Detroit Pistons.
Gordon won the Sixth Man Award in 2005 as a rookie with the Bulls, and played alongside Luol Deng – earning an estimated $84 million during his NBA career.
He played with the Charlotte Bobcats for two seasons, and ended his career with the Orlando Magic in 2015.
In June 2017 he was arrested for pulling the fire alarms at his Los Angeles apartment complex despite there being no blaze, going into ‘meltdown mode’ after getting locked out,
Elijah, center, was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital by his aunt, with his stepmother Ashley saying he was ‘not bruised’
Gordon is pictured outside a court in New York City in March 2018 after being arrested in November 2017 for having false license plates
Both the LAPD and the City Fire Department responded, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of falsely activating a fire alarm.
He then failed to appear in court at his arraignment for the fiasco, before being arrested again in October 2017.
A distraught woman claimed that she had been in a confrontation with Gordon and was locked in the store after demanding that she leave.
Gordon was arrested by officers at the Of Our Own store in Mount Vernon, after they found him hiding in the bathroom and they transported him to a hospital.
In November 2017 the athlete was arrested during a car stop in Manhattan for driving with a forged license place, with a judge issuing a warrant for his arrest months later when he again failed to show up to court.
He was then arrested in Los Angeles weeks later after allegedly assaulting his formed apartment building manager and threatening him with a knife.
Gordon had reportedly attempted to get back a security deposit he owned, before punching the manager in the face.
The man handed him a portion of the deposit, before Gordan returned to the scene with a knife and demanded the rest of the cash.
He was then taken into custody without incident on robbery charges.
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