Hashim Bailey Faces Charges

Tigers' Bailey faces charges

By Dan Wolken
November 2, 2006

University of Memphis freshman center Hashim Bailey has been charged with a Class A misdemeanor for simple assault/bodily harm stemming from the Oct. 18 "water bottle incident" at West Hall dormitory involving two female students. An arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 17.
The women, Adia Corbin and Christina Peterson, called campus police on Oct. 18 to complain that two Tigers basketball players had followed them into the lobby of their dorm at roughly 9 p.m. and that one of the players threw a full water bottle at them and threatened them. They both told The Commercial Appeal they recognized one of the players as junior Joey Dorsey but didn't recognize the one who threw the bottle.

The car the players left in was later identified as Bailey's.

They also claimed that Dorsey poured the contents of a water bottle over Corbin's head.
After a UofM police investigation into the incident, the school turned the case over to the state court system, according to University counsel Sheri Lipman.

A magistrate judge then ordered a criminal summons, which Bailey signed last Thursday.
The summons was issued instead of an arrest warrant.

No charges have been filed against Dorsey.

Bailey, a 6-10, 290-pound center from Paterson, N.J., was automatically suspended from the basketball team due to the charge. That suspension was almost immediately overturned, however, after Bailey appealed it in front of a three-person University panel, Lipman said.
Bailey was not made available for comment Wednesday.

Tigers coach John Calipari declined comment.

Attempts to reach Corbin and Peterson were unsuccessful. In a phone interview Monday night, Peterson said she was "positive" Bailey was the second player, but then admitted she could not identify him for certain.

"I didn't identify him from a photo. I ran from him," Peterson said.

Asked why she believes the incident was an assault, Peterson said: "Pouring water on somebody is criminal. If I don't know you and you pour water on me, really, my clothes get wet and my hair is damaged."