Officer who arrested Matt Barnes watched him from an alley for 2 hours prior to arrest

When the story broke of Matt Barnes being arrested in Manhattan Beach for an outstanding traffic warrant and resisting arrest, my first initial question was, “how do you get arrested when you’re walking and not causing a disturbance” ?

Turns out the arresting officer was stalking Barnes for up to two hours before arresting him. Barnes was also cited with the felony charge of resisting arrest but, if you looked at the video of the arrest, Barnes didn’t seem to be acting in an aggressive manner.

TMZ breaks down the details:

the arresting officer KNEW Barnes had an outstanding warrant as he watched the NBA forward and his baby mama park their car in a lot Monday night — and walk a block-and-a-half to MB Post, a popular restaurant in Manhattan Beach, CA — yet the cop did not approach the hoopster. Instead the officer waited in an alley near the car.

Witnesses say 15 minutes later, Barnes walked back to the vehicle in plain view of the cop. According to witnesses … Barnes got something from the car and returned to the restaurant. Again, the officer watched but did nothing.

Nearly 2 hours later, Barnes and his chick left the restaurant and he signed autographs and posed for pictures as they walked to the car — as they approached the vehicle the cop pounced and told Barnes he was under arrest, but didn’t say why.

Was the cop a disgruntled Laker fan? Did Matt take his girlfriend on a date? Who does that?? This absolutely sounds like some type of personal beef.

As for the suspended license, Matt was under the impression that he had taken care of it – he had but didn’t know he also had to appear in court to clear up the warrant.

And how did the resisting arrest charge come into play? Matt allegedly attempted to give Gloria Govan – his girlfriend – the keys to the car.

This will be an interesting case to watch play out. Manhattan Beach PD are known to be a little… exuberant in my experiences.