Jayson Williams, Ex-New Jersey Nets Star, Tasered by NYPD After Suicidal Outburst at Manhattan Hotel

Jayson Williams, Photo: O'Boyle/Pool

Jayson Williams, ex-New Jersey Nets player, went berserk early this morning in a New York City Hilton Embassy Suites. You will recall that he beat the rap for shooting his chauffeur, Costas "Gus" Christofi, in 2002. The cops were called to the hotel at 4 a.m. after a female friend called security to report disturbance in his suite. He was reportedly rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital in handcuffs after cops found suicide notes and empty bottles of pills in his hotel room.

"He was barricaded, drinking, taking pills. He was overwhelmed," a police source said. "It all came crashing down." Williams, 41, trashed his room, forcing Emergency Service Unit officers to subdue the former All-Star with a Taser gun, sources said.

It took two sets of handcuffs to restrain the husky star, cops said. Cops found several suicide notes, including a message scrawled on the wall. They said he was distraught over his divorce, his parents' illnesses and his impending retrial in the chauffeur-shooting case. Source: NY Daily News

Isn't this an eerie reminder of O.J. Simpson and the fact that he just couldn't find peace with himself after beating the murder rap for his wife and Ron Goldman?

Williams was cleared of the most serious charges in the murder trial. The jury deadlocked on the count of reckless manslaughter. In 2006, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Williams could be retried on that charge. No trial date has been set. The hoop star paid Christofi's family $2.75 million to settle a wrongful death suit.