Wizards' Strickland Busted

Rod Strickland of the Washington Wizards was arrested early Saturday, charged with refusing to leave a restaurant that was being shut by fire marshals.

Authorities said the number of people inside Republic Gardens exceeded the club's occupancy permit.

Once he refused to leave, Strickland was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful entry and released on personal recognizance. He is due in court Nov. 3.

The arrest of the point guard comes three days before the Wizards open the season at Orlando.

This is not Strickland's first brush with the law.

He was arrested in April 1999 in Washington and charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving. Five months later, he was found not guilty by a jury on the DUI charge and by a judge on the reckless driving charge.

Four years earlier, he had been arrested in New York and charged with hitting his ex-girlfriend. Strickland pleaded guilty to that charge and was ordered to attend a therapy program for batterers.

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