Published: 2025-08-21 21:38:59 | Views: 7
An Ohio man has been arrested for the throwing of a sex toy at a WNBA game in New York, police said Thursday.
It's the latest development in a string of disturbances where similar toys were tossed at WNBA games across the country, resulting in at least three arrests.
Charles Burgess, 32, from Dayton, Ohio, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly throwing an object at the Dallas Wings vs. New York Liberty game on Aug. 5, New York police told The Associated Press. The object hit a 12-year-old girl, and Burgess was charged with two counts of assault.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Burgess had an attorney.
Similar disturbances happened during games in Atlanta on July 29 and Aug. 1, Los Angeles and Phoenix on Aug. 5, and Chicago on Aug. 1 and Aug. 7.
Some of the sex toys reached the court and caused game delays, while others landed in the crowds, such as in Phoenix where an 18-year-old was arrested.
The man in that case told police it was a prank that had been trending on social media and he bought the toy a day earlier to take to the game. He was tackled at the arena by a volunteer who had allegedly witnessed him throwing it and began following him as he tried to leave the arena.
Police have said that man was arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct and publicly displaying explicit sexual material.
A man was also arrested in Georgia for the two toy-throwings at Atlanta Dream games, according to a police report.
The report said the Georgia man told police "this was supposed to be a joke and the joke [was] supposed to go viral."
The sex toy that landed on the court in Los Angeles nearly hit Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
League officials have said any person throwing objects onto the court will be ejected from the arena and face a minimum one-year ban from attending games.
Media reports on the disturbances have tied the toy-throwings to a group involved in a related Cryptocurrency meme coin.
WATCH | Thousands attend Canada's 1st WNBAΒ game in Vancouver:
With 2 1/2 weeks left in the WNBA's regular season, the league has already broken its single-season attendance record.
League officials announced Thursday the league's 13 teams have drawn a total of 2,501,609 fans over 226 games this season, surpassing the previous mark that was set in 2002 when the league had 16 teams. It also took the WNBA 256 games to reach the milestone in 2002.
The popularity explosion in women's college basketball, spurred initially by the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry, carried over to the WNBA last season when Clark and Reese were rookies. Sold out arenas became the norm for Clark and the Indiana Fever.
While Clark and Reese have both been hurt this season, ticket sales haven't slowed thanks to the arrival of rookie guard Paige Bueckers in Dallas, the curiosity over the expansion Golden State Valkyries and expanded television coverage.
And after expanding last year's 40-game schedule to 44 games this season, the WNBA is on pace to shatter the previous attendance record.