New 76ers recruit Kelly Oubre Jr. was hospitalized after getting hit by a car in Philadelphia, but the investigation has taken a strange twist.
Oubre only signed with Philly on September 26, so hasn’t been living in the area long, and told police that he was the target of a hit and run when heading home last weekend.
But in a bizarre turn of events, surveillance footage hasn’t yet uncovered any evidence of a crash taking place where Oubre said it did, according to Philadelphia Enquirer.
“The Police Department currently does not have any video or photographic evidence that depicts this collision,” Sgt. Eric Gripp, a department spokesperson, said Wednesday. “We continue to work in hopes of gathering evidence and we encourage anyone who has information to reach out to our crash investigation unit.”
The story made it clear that the investigation is still underway.
“Gripp emphasized that police have not accused Oubre of anything and the investigation is ongoing. But the lack of immediate visual evidence confirming the crash on a well-trafficked downtown street raises questions about the information Oubre provided to police.
“A source familiar with the situation said that Oubre may not have provided an accurate account of where and when the crash allegedly occurred.”
Here’s video Kelly Oubre Jr returning home minutes after he was hit by a car in Philly on Saturday. There’s talk about lack of surveillance vid. Sources says KO, who’s new to city, wasn’t interviewed by cops until hours after accident at hospital & he was unsure of exact location pic.twitter.com/fB1DYatkUh
— michael j. babcock (@mikejbabcock) November 16, 2023
76ers head coach Nick Nurse was fielding questions on Wednesday about the incident before the team’s matchup against the Celtics.
He was even asked if he believed Oubre’s account of what went down.
“Listen, I don’t think it’s very fair to him to say that he’s made up some story,” Nurse said. “He’s one of our players, and we’re going to stand behind him. So am I.”
Nurse added, “If some more evidence or anything else comes to light, we’ll handle it when it comes to light.”
Initially, it was reported that the guard would miss quite a bit of playing time, but he was back at the Sixers training facility on Tuesday.
ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowksi reports he is back to doing some light work and could return to the court in late November / early December.
