University of Mississippi men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy was arrested last Thursday, Dec. 18 in Cincinnati, Ohio after a cab driver said he punched him and called him “bin Laden” and other racially-insensitive names, according to a report by the Detroit Free Press.

The man who filed the complaint, Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou, said that Kennedy also cussed at him and called him “Saddam Hussein,” and punched him in the left side of the face, which then became swollen, according to police on the scene. The incident allegedly happened early Thursday morning after Kennedy hailed a cab and tried to squeeze him and four friends into the cab. Jiddou said he couldn’t transport that many people because the car was only equipped with four seatbelts.

Kennedy has a pre-trial hearing set for January 16, 2009 after being charged with first-degree assault with a possible sentence of six months in jail if convicted.

Members of the Mississippi basketball coaching staff and administration were with Kennedy after leaving a bar in downtown Cincinnati, and the coaching staff was said to have witnessed the altercation. The team’s Director of Basketball Operations, Bill Armstrong, was also arrested for disorderly conduct after becoming intoxicated and yelling at the cab driver that night.

Mississippi’s athletic director, Pete Boone, said he believes that Kennedy will be cleared of the charges after talking to members of the basketball team’s coaching staff who witnessed the incident.

The team was in the area for a game against Louisville, a nearby college, that was scheduled for later in the day.