Miami Herald
MIAMI — Shaq played some ball over the weekend. But not with his NBA friends.
Shaquille O’Neal, the former Heat, Lakers and Magic star, went to Gainesville to surprise neighborhood kids for a pickup game. He got the idea after seeing a Gainesville cop, called to quiet some noisy kids. That officer ended up playing basketball with them.
O’Neal is a cop himself, sworn in last year as a reserve officer in Doral. He also has been a reserve cop in L.A., Arizona, Miami Beach and Golden Beach.
He made a big splash Saturday in Gainesville, not as a cop but as a personality.
“Officer Bobby White AKA ‘The Basketball Cop” made good on his promise to come back for a street basketball rematch,” Gainesville PD posted on its Facebook page.” He brought a little backup, too. Shaq was in the house.”
The video shows Shaq surprising cops in their squad room and White saying, “Are you kidding me?” It ends with police officers, Shaq and the kids playing a spirited game of pickup on a neighborhood street.
To the original noise complainant on the basketball noise: Hope we weren’t too loud yesterday. @SHAQ has big lungs. #HoopsNotCrime
— Gainesville Police (@GainesvillePD) January 24, 2016
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