Leaked video of Kelly Oubre Jr. with bicycle after reported hit-and-run raises more questions
Video obtained by TMZ appears to show the 76ers forward returning to his apartment with a bicycle after being hit by a car. The preliminary police report did not mention a bike.
Newly published footage appears to show 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. entering his apartment with a BMX bike and saying, “I got hit by a car,” which could bolster the player’s claim that he was the victim of a hit-and-run on Saturday. But the video, published by TMZ, adds to mounting questions about the incident that left one of the Sixers’ new starters sidelined with a broken rib.
Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case said Oubre did not mention a bicycle in his initial account on Saturday night. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the case, said Oubre and his representatives have declined to provide more information to police, meaning any public clarification is up to the player and the team at this time.
Oubre is considered a crime victim and has no legal obligation to aid investigators. But the initial account of the crash has come under scrutiny and incited a torrent of online speculation within both the NBA and the local police department about how, exactly, the 6-foot-7 wing player broke his rib and injured his hip and leg that night.
In the incident report released Saturday, a 27-year-old pedestrian, identified by the Sixers as Oubre, was reported to be walking westbound on Spruce Street near 15th Street when a silver vehicle speeding in the same direction attempted to turn south onto Hicks Street and struck him in the upper chest area with the driver’s-side mirror and then fled the scene.
Police on Wednesday said that investigators found no video evidence confirming a car crash at that scene. Nearby business owners told The Inquirer they reviewed roughly two hours of footage from that evening on their surveillance systems and did not see a crash.
A source close to Oubre later clarified that the player — who is new to Philadelphia after having signed with the team on Sept. 26 — may have been confused about the location of the crash.
Hours after that news broke, TMZ published footage from Oubre’s doorbell camera, which the outlet claimed documented the moments “just minutes after he was struck” in Center City on Saturday and that his wife dialed 911.
The footage did not include a timestamp and The Inquirer could not independently verify when it was taken. The Sixers declined to comment on the footage. Oubre could not be reached for comment.
Emergency dispatch recordings show medics responded to a 911 call on the 1400 block of Spruce Street that evening, and arrived shortly after 7:20 p.m. looking for “a male with chest pains.”
A police spokesperson confirmed that a 27-year-old man was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The Sixers later said Oubre suffered a broken rib and other injuries, and was expected to miss significant time.
Oubre has been outspoken about his love of cycling as an outdoor hobby and a training exercise. But whether he was riding a bike that evening remains unclear. (The standard NBA contract bars players from activities that “may impair or destroy his ability and skill as a basketball player,” and requires players to get consent from the team for wide range of potentially dangerous activities that range from sky-diving to mountain biking.)
Ahead of Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said he stood by his player’s story and dismissed speculation about the incident.
“If some more evidence or anything else comes to light, we’ll handle it when it comes to light,” Nurse said.
Crime and accident victims often provide police with initial information that is relayed in the preliminary incident reports, and those details sometimes change after police investigate and verify the timeline of events.
As of Thursday, The Inquirer is not aware of any other video footage that has surfaced showing Oubre’s whereabouts in Center City that night.
Hit-and-run crashes remain a scourge across Philadelphia, having claimed more than 30 lives and injuring more than 600 others in the city last year. The Inquirer reported in December that most cases are not solved by police.
Staff writer Keith Pompey contributed to this report.