National Basketball Association

Ex-NBA star Kevin Johnson hit in the face with pie at benefit dinner, fights back

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:04 p.m. ET

Pete Blackburn

Sacramento mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson was hit in the face with a pie at a benefit dinner hosted by a local high school on Wednesday night. According to the Sacramento Bee, Johnson responded to the attack by engaging in a brief scuffle and striking the pie assailant.

While talking to guests at the event, a man reportedly approached Johnson from the side, grabbed him by the arm and then slammed a cream pie into his face.

“Let me be clear, the mayor was assaulted tonight,” said city spokeswoman Crystal Strait, as reported by the Bee. “He is home with his family. … The whole thing is just shocking.”

UFC fighter Urijah Faber, who attended the dinner, provided some more details on what happened after that.

“I asked him (Johnson) what happened and apparently the guy had come from behind and just slammed him in the face, sounds like half punch, half pie slamming in the face and then they got into a scuffle and started rolling around on the ground and looks like that guy got the worst of it,” said Faber, according to ABC10.

Faber also said that the pie-thrower, later identified as 32-year-old Sean Thompson, was left "bloodied up" after Johnson was through with him. Thompson was arrested on felony charges of assaulting a public official and transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The Sacramento police department released this photo of Thompson: