by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
According to a criminal complaint, UNM men's basketball player Aaron Johnson was charged with four counts of battery on Albuquerque police officers early Sunday morning.
In a statement released Sunday, head coach Ritchie McKay said he dismissed Johnson from the basketball team.
The criminal complaint stated the 22-year-old Johnson was Downtown at the Sauce Liquid Lounge and Raw where he battered four officers before police arrested him.
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According to the complaint, officers were dispatched to the bar after receiving a disturbance call from an unknown caller. When the officers arrived, bouncers were attempting to remove Johnson from the bar.
The complaint stated Johnson was "throwing punches and kicks at any person in his way," while the bouncers tried to get him out of the bar.
The officers sprayed Johnson with pepper spray and approached him in an attempt to keep him from harming any more people, the complaint stated.
The complaint also stated as officers approached Johnson, he "struck and kicked the officers in an ongoing struggle to take him into custody."
The four officers who were battered were screened by medical workers and released, according to the complaint.
It was not the first time Johnson has been involved in a fight.
He took part in a fight with several of his Penn State teammates right before he decided to transfer to UNM in May.
Police were called to the fight, but no charges were filed against Johnson or anyone else involved.
After the incident, Johnson told the Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa., that he was the victim in the fight at Penn State.
"I was fighting six-on-one," Johnson said in the May 2 article. "I was like a gladiator or something."
Johnson would have sat out the 2005-2006 season because of NCAA Division I transfer rules. He would have had one year of eligibility remaining when he began to play for the Lobos in the 2006-2007 season.
Johnson averaged 10.2 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game in his three years with the Nittany Lions. He was the Big Ten's leading rebounder last season with 9.9 rebounds per game.
Johnson refused to comment when approached at his apartment Tuesday.
He is the fourth UNM player since July to run into trouble with the law or McKay.
Josh Jenkins, a transfer from New Mexico State, has been suspended indefinitely since July while police investigate a rape allegation against him.
Justin Holt, a transfer from Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, was kicked off the team in August for failing to meet academic standards. UNM was the sixth college Holt has attended since he graduated high school in 2002.
J.R. Giddens, a transfer from the University of Kansas, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct last week after his role in a bar fight in Lawrence, Kan., in which he was stabbed in the right calf.
McKay did not discipline Giddens for his role in the bar fight, saying at the time of Giddens' transfer he knew of the legal problems Giddens might face.
McKay, in Australia on a recruitment trip, could not be reached for comment.
