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Former NBA player arrested in Hawaii for using fake COVID test
Lazar Hayward, a former NBA player, was arrested in Hawaii last week for trying to enter the state with a fake negative COVID test, officials said.
Hayward, a first-round draft pick in 2010, and a woman he traveled with, Raven Randle had uploaded the fake documents onto Hawaii’s Safe Travels portal, the Kauai Police Department said in a statement on Facebook. The state requires unvaccinated travelers to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival unless they present a negative COVID test.
The pair were arrested Sept. 28 soon after they had flown to Kauai from Los Angeles, police said. They were immediately sent back to California.
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The Safe Travels system flagged the tests, which were then investigated by the state’s Department of the Attorney General before the two were arrested, the statement said.
Hayward, 34, and Randle, 33, are due in court, but a date has not yet been set. Phone calls placed to a number listed as belonging to Hayward were not returned Monday night.
Hayward, a standout player at Marquette University, was the 30th-overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. He spent three seasons in the league, where he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder before he was sent to the NBA’s development league.
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Hayward and Randle traveled to Hawaii despite the governor’s request in August that tourists stay away to ease the strain on hospitals.
New infections in the state Sunday were less than one-third of the amount a month ago, when the state reached a pandemic high, according to a New York Times database. Fifty-eight percent of the state’s residents who are eligible for vaccinations are fully inoculated, which is above the nationwide average of 56%.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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