Ex-Nets star Jayson Williams 'suicidal' at Manhattan hotel; Tasered after showdown with NYPD cops

Police were called to the Hilton Embassy Suites in Battery Park City at 4 a.m., after a female friend called security to report a disturbance in Williams' 15th-floor suite, the sources said.

Williams, 41, trashed his room, forcing Emergency Service Unit officers to subdue the former All-Star with a Taser gun, sources said. It took two sets of handcuffs to restrain the husky star, cops said.

Cops Tasered ex-NBA star Jayson Williams Monday after the troubled hoopster tried went nuts in his luxury Manhattan hotel room, police sources said.

The popular New Jersey Nets center, who beat the rap trial for shooting his chauffeur in 2002, was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital in handcuffs after cops found suicide notes and empty bottles of pills in his room, sources said.

"He was barricaded, drinking, taking pills. He was overwhelmed," a police source said. "It all came crashing down."

In 2006, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Williams could be retried on that charge. No trial date has been set. The hoop star paid Christofi's family $2.75 million to settle a wrongful death suit.

"He had a lot of demons, a dark side that would surface every now and then," said a person who knew Williams when he played eight seasons for New Jersey.

The Nets source said Williams is usually a gregarious and fun-loving person, but seems to need a structured lifestyle.

"He needs something to fill his time," the source said. "You hate to see him hurt himself, but this was a guy with a lot of demons."

Cops found several suicide notes, including a message scrawled on the wall. They said he was distraught over his divorce, his parents' illnesses and his impending retrial in the chauffeur-shooting case.

Guests arrived home to find the posh hotel transformed into a crime scene. "There were about cop cars and an ambulance outside," said Annette Peters, 29, of Minneapolis.

It was not immediately known if he injured himself or if he was armed.

A few hours later, Williams' manager insisted the troubled ex-athlete was on the mend.

"Jayson is doing fine. He said he was fine," said Akhtar Farzaie, his manager and friend, outside the hospital emergency room. "All of us are here to be by his side as friends."