Rockets' Griffin charged with assault

[TexasStooge]

HOUSTON, Texas (Court TV) — A month after being suspended indefinitely from the team, Houston Rockets forward Eddie Griffin has a new set of problems.

Griffin, 21, was arrested and charged last week for fighting with a woman who claims he beat her and fired a gun in her direction. Griffin was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor assault with bodily injury, according to a Houston police department spokesperson. He is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 1.

Joann Romero, 21, who described herself as Griffin's girlfriend, told police that the 6-foot-9, 210-pound athlete beat her and shot at her outside his gated community home in southwest Houston in the early morning of Oct. 25.

Griffin's attorney, Rusty Hardin, reportedly has said that Romero was an acquaintance, not a girlfriend, and that she broke into Griffin's house on the night of the alleged attack.

Griffin played at Seton Hall in New Jersey before becoming the seventh overall selection in the 2001 NBA draft. A year later, he was named to the NBA all-rookie second team. Since then, his career has floundered, and he was suspended Oct. 16 after a tumultuous preseason during which he missed a team flight and skipped practices.