UCLA senior forward Nikola Dragovic will plead not guilty to the felony assault charges levied against him this week by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, his attorney said.
Dragovic was involved in an altercation at a concert in Hollywood last month, which resulted in Dragovic allegedly tackling another man into a glass display case. The man suffered a lacerated Achilles’ heel when the glass fell on him, the district attorney reported.
Dragovic’s attorney, Jon Artz, addressed the media Monday evening.
“My client, just like everybody else, is presumed innocent,” he said.
Artz went on to describe a different narrative of the Oct. 24 incident than the one portrayed by prosecutors. He claimed that Dragovic did not instigate the confrontation, but that the supposed victim was, in fact, the aggressor.
Artz said the man was heavily intoxicated when he slapped Dragovic’s friend and roommate, Aleksandar Stanisic, on an upper floor of the concert venue. The man then followed the two downstairs at which point he threatened Dragovic, claiming he had a knife and was going to kill him.
“My client reasonably believed … he was fearing for his own life and the life of his friend,” said Artz, who said he understood that the other man was about 6-foot-5, around 210 pounds and in his 40s.
The district attorney, however, added that after Dragovic rushed into the man, Stanisic began repeatedly punching him while he was on the ground.
In defense of his client, Artz referenced the 2006 Duke University lacrosse scandal ““ in which three student athletes at the North Carolina university were wrongly accused of rape ““ as an instance of collegiate athletes being prematurely blamed.
The Los Angeles Police Department had been investigating the incident for nearly a month before the district attorney announced the charge on Friday morning.
Dragovic, escorted personally by coach Ben Howland, responded by turning himself in to university police on the same day, just hours before the Bruins’ matchup with Cal State Bakersfield. Dragovic and Stanisic were each released on $30,000 bail later that day.
Howland had apparently been approached by Dragovic in the days following the scuffle and was aware of the details. Artz said that Dragovic was “unpleasantly surprised when the LAPD went and apparently got an arrest warrant out.”
Howland, who has not dealt with many off-court issues with his players during his tenure at UCLA, has suspended the senior indefinitely. Dragovic has missed the Bruins’ last two games, although he sat on the bench in dress clothes for the team’s 71-52 victory over Pepperdine on Monday night.
“He’s supportive of his team and very supportive of his teammates,” Howland said. “It’s nice for him (to be with the team). It’s been a tough few days.”
Howland said he had no information about when the Serbian forward would be allowed to suit up with the team again. His arraignment has been set for Dec. 21 in Downtown Los Angeles.
Artz offered his own opinion of the suspension.
“If they were to ask me I would say don’t penalize this young man any more than any other student would be penalized because someone alleges ““ who has an axe to grind ““ that he … was in the wrong,” he said.
One year ago, Dragovic was arrested for an alleged fight with his girlfriend. The City Attorney decided not to press charges in that case and Dragovic ended up missing just one of the Bruins’ early season games due to suspension.
“That event was mostly an argument,” Artz said. “There was no physical touching. … They were breaking up and there were some heated words.”
Fellow senior forward James Keefe has started in place of Dragovic on the basketball court for the last two games. Keefe has scored 12 points with 11 rebounds in those contests combined.