01:40 PM PDT on Friday, June 4, 2004

By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- New details have emerged from an incident involving Portland Trail Blazer Darius Miles, and the details portray the young basketball star in an unflattering light.

Police commanded Darius Miles and his friends to get down on the ground during the drug bust. (CNN photo)

Apparently, Miles is hanging out with the wrong crowd.

With a gun pointed at him, Miles was ordered by a policeman to get on the ground during a drug bust Wednesday in the neighborhood where Miles' grew up as a child.

"If you don't get down, I'll blow the top of your head off! Down! I don't care who you are," the policeman could be heard yelling at Miles in a videotape of the arrest.

Miles didn't have anything illegal with him and wasn't arrested or charged, said East St. Louis Police Chief Ronald Matthews. However, two of his friends who were riding in Miles' SUV were arrested, and Miles was uncooperative and combative with officers, according to Rudy McIntosh, the deputy East St. Louis police chief.

"He should carry himself in a more professional manner," McIntosh told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Miles was in a group police searched for weapons and drugs Wednesday night in a crime-infested part of the city. Police approached the intersection of 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, which McIntosh described as a "known drug corner," about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

He said that several men were loitering at the corner, including Miles and his two friends.

McIntosh said that officers found marijuana on two men who had been riding with Miles in his sport utility vehicle. One of the friends threw a loaded gun under Miles' parked vehicle as officers approached, according to McIntosh. The two friends were arrested.

Initially, there was some confusion as to whether Miles, 22, knew the two men.

Miles, a free agent with the Blazers, is an East St. Louis native. He was picking up a friend to head to a graduation ceremony there on Wednesday evening when the police raid occurred.

Following the incident, Miles was allowed to continue on to the high school graduation.

On Thursday, The Blazers said they stand by Miles and that he didn't do anything wrong.

The team acquired Miles in January from the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was traded to Portland just one day after the Cavs fined him $2,500 for skipping a practice.

Miles jumped straight from high school to the NBA as the No. 3 overall pick in 2000 by the Clippers and showed flashes of skill after coming to the Cavs in a trade with Los Angeles. However, Miles' tenure with the Cavs was plagued by inconsistency, and first-year Cleveland coach Paul Silas had reduced his role after starting him earlier this season.

Blazers management have been trying to clean up the team's image, which has been called into question in recent years because of the past conduct of some Blazers players.

(The Associated Press also contributed to this story.)