Official: Players Left Chaperone Before Kansas Assaults

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - An official with a Minneapolis organization says a group of young basketball players skipped out on a chaperone before police say they were involved in several assaults in Wichita, Kansas.

The male players ranging from age 12 to 18 were in Wichita over the weekend for the Mid America Youth Basketball championships. The players are from Urban Stars Athletics, which is an arm of Minneapolis nonprofit Urban Ventures, and were staying in a downtown hotel.

Nonprofit CEO Timothy Clark said in an emailed statement that the players "skipped out" on a chaperone doing laundry after a team dinner. Wichita Police Lt. James Espinoza says the players threw rocks, bricks and chunks of cement at people as they walked Wichita streets Sunday night.

The players were arrested, and have been released to their parents.