Kings' Artest arrested on domestic violence charge

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sacramento Kings basketball player Ron Artest, who was involved in one of the most notorious brawls in U.S. sports history in 2004, was arrested on Monday on domestic violence charges, officials said.

Local police arrested Artest, 27, at his residence in Loomis, California, a suburb of the state capital Sacramento, on Monday morning and released him on $50,000 bail by 2 p.m. Citing privacy laws, officials declined to say whether the victim was his wife.

"Artest was booked on the charge of domestic violence and preventing a victim from reporting a crime, so two charges," said Dena Erwin, a spokeswoman for the Placer County Sheriff's office.

Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, said in a statement the NBA team "have excused Ron Artest indefinitely from any further participation with the team."

The Kings would seek facts about the case "over the next several days before taking any further action," he said.

Artest, then playing for the Indiana Pacers, lost about $5 million in earnings after a 73-game suspension when a 2004 fight spilled into the stands. He has also generated headlines with volatile behavior on and off the court on other occasions.

Officials set an arraignment date of March 22.