A Stony Brook University basketball player from Port Washington and the girl he was arrested for allegedly pushing said at a university hearing on Thursday that he did not touch her.
Ahmad Walker, 23, was arrested and charged with second-degree harassment and resisting arrest for allegedly pushing Wendy Maldonado, 19, on Sept. 10 after police responded to a noise complaint.
“This has been a really tough situation for me because I did not do what they are accusing me of,” Walker said. “The allegations are not true, and I want everyone to know that.”
Walker said Maldonado got angry at him when she saw him talking to another girl and left. She then texted him that she had thrown his belongings in a muddy spot on campus that students refer to as “the pit,” he said.
When she returned, Maldonado said, an argument ensued and she slapped him in the face.
Stony Brook police officers responded to a noise complaint call around 2:30 a.m., and found Walker and Maldonado yelling at one another, they said.
“When officers were attempting to intervene, the male shoved the female, which resulted in the officers placing Walker under arrest,” said Robert J. Lenahan, chief of police at Stony Brook University.
When they were separated, Maldonado said, she looked back and saw the responding officers arresting Walker forcefully.
“They never said why they were arresting him,” she said. “And the amount of force they used was extremely excessive.’’
Walker said as he was walking away from Maldonado, the officer said “You’re going to jail,” and then when he was asked to put his hands behind his back, he asked why he was being arrested and the officers got aggressive.
The officers, Walker said, picked him up and slammed him to the ground.
“If you look at my mugshot, I have dirt and blood on my face,” Walker said.
Walker, who was suspended from school pending the outcome of the charges, was released on his own recognizance.
Walker’s case in criminal court was adjourned again to Dec. 5, because the prosecutors said they need to obtain more information from the police officers, according to Walker’s lawyer, Stephen Drummond.
During the first hearing, Maldonado said, she told the judge that Walker never touched her.
Walker, who has lived in Port Washington his entire life, was slated to graduate with his bachelor’s degree in a multidisciplinary studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, he said, and then was entering a master’s degree program in March.
Walker said he is not allowed on campus and he was taken off the basketball team’s roster.
Maldonado, a social work major, said she “just wants to see Ahmad back in school finishing his degree and playing basketball, because I know how hard he has worked.”
“I just want people to know that Ahmad never did this and that he’s the sweetest guy ever and he’s not capable of doing this,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said the situation is causing her to lose focus on her school work, especially Stony Brook’s social work program, which she was recently accepted into.
Walker went to the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, to play basketball.
After redshirting his first year of college, Walker played his first year of eligibility at Stony Brook, but then played one year at Barton County Community College.
He then returned to Stony Brook for his third and final year of eligibility.
Drummond said he is trying to do everything to speed up the hearing process, so Walker can get back to school and graduate in time.
