We at Queerty love Shaquille O’Neal. He’s just so damn versatile. He plays pro basketball, portrayed a construction worker-like superhero in the atrocity that was Steel, and he’s now training to be a police officer. That’s one Native-American headdress away from being an honorary member of the Village People. But the role he’s taking most seriously these days is that of the law. Shaq recently played an important role in catching some gay bashers in Florida.
“(Shaq) was driving on South Beach around 3 a.m. Sunday. He saw a passenger in a car yell anti-gay slurs at the couple, who were walking,” said Bobby Hernandez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department.
“The man then got out of the car and threw a bottle, hitting one of the pedestrians, who was not seriously hurt. The man got back in the car, which sped off. O’Neal followed, flagging down an officer who made an arrest,” Hernandez said.
Our biggest question about this whole incident: What was Shaq doing in gay South Beach at 3 AM? We like to think he was playing cop to some bottom’s robber.
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“For this incident I don’t want to be credited as an individual who does police work,” O’Neal said in a statement. “I want to be credited as a Miami Beach police officer.”
Shaq, you’re our hero and we’ll gladly credit you as whichever way you want, just promise to spare us Steel 2.