John Henson one of the NBA's most productive big men found himself at the center of one of the weirdest situations he could have imagined on Monday afternoon. Henson who recently signed a 4 year $44 million dollar contract extension found himself on the receiving end of some very questionable behavior by Schwanke-Kasten jewelry.
The store based in Whitefish Bay Wisconsin refused service to Henson after he attempted to enter. How did they refuse him? By locking the door and telling him to "go away". Henson would ring the doorbell again which immediately led to every employee running to the back of the store and calling the police.
The police arrived and aggressively questioned Henson as they tried to figure out why he was at a jewelry store... An officer walked into the jewelry store and reassured the employees that it was indeed safe to come out but only did so after running a background check on his car and running his plates.
After the police officers said that it was alright to conduct business the employees then went on to ask if an officer could stand by as Henson and a companion looked at Rolexes however the officers in question declined. Apparently earlier in the week the store received suspicious phone calls inquiring about specific types of inventory and what time the store closed.
This was soon followed by four unnamed men walking up to the store only to notice that the door was locked. These men drove a red Chevy Tahoe which just so happens to be the same car Henson was driving on the day of the incident. Now this "incident" the store had could have been purely coincidental or it could be a fabrication to help stop the bad press from affecting sales either way it was poorly handled.
Even after the excessive police presence the fact that the employees felt compelled to ask officers to stay and watch as Henson shopped is just a pure slap in a face to him and to every black or minority athlete that represent Wisconsin week in and week out. The Bucks were disgusted when they heard the news and re-tweeted a twitter post Henson put up in regards to the incident. The owner of Schwanke-Kasten released a statement in which he says he has "met Henson before, and there is no excuse for the way he was treated". He went on to say:
"We believe that everyone - professional athlete or not - deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. I have reached out to the Bucks organization and hope to sit down directly with John Henson to look one another in the eye, shake hands, and apologize for what he experienced."