An usher "lost her job and a New Orleans police officer will no longer be hired by SMG to work security details for Pelicans games because of a breakdown that enabled a young boy to run onto the court to hug" Knicks F Carmelo Anthony during a game last week at Smoothie King Center, according to John Reid of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Smoothie King Center GM Alan Freeman said that the retractable tensile or crowd control barrier "was not in place and the usher who should have been watching the aisle was not in place either." He added that the venue's entire staff "went through reinforcement training last week" as a result of the incident that "included them having to watch the video of former tennis star Monica Seles when she was stabbed in her back" in '93 during an on-court attack in Germany. Smoothie King Center's usher staff also was "shown both the network broadcast and the in-house video feed of what happened involving the young boy running onto the court and what the breakdowns were." Freeman said that the arena has "hired two additional law enforcement officers, with one positioned at each end of the floor." The Pelicans have "only three home games remaining before the regular season ends." Freeman: "Their responsibility is to watch the playing surface during all times so if anybody does get out on the floor that they will be observing them and they can take the appropriate action" (NOLA.com, 4/4).
