Former super-import Billy Ray Bates found himself in hot water Monday, for allegedly throwing stones and damaging a limousine in Quezon City before dawn.

Bates, now 56, was accosted for damaging the vehicle of one Carlos Vicente at the Farmers Market area, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported.

The report said the former super-import, who earned the nickname "Black Superman" while playing in the Philippine Basketball Association in the 1980s, denied the charges but sought a settlement with the car's owner.

PO2 Alvin Quisumbing of the Quezon City Police District's Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit cited initial information indicating that Bates was seen throwing stones at the limo at about 12:20 a.m., while supposedly drunk.

Bates allegedly managed to escape but was seen again in the area at about 6 a.m., and was accosted by the police.

Bates claimed he was held up, and that his passport and money were taken, the dzBB report said.

The Kentucky State University product was a third round pick of the Houston Rockets back in the 1978 rookie draft, but he never played for that squad. He was later signed by the Portland Trail Blazers where he spent three seasons. After getting cut there, he had brief stints with the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards) and the LA Lakers, before coming over to the Philippines.

Here, Bates electrified crowds while playing for the grandslam Crispa team in 1983, and helped power Ginebra San Miguel to its first PBA championship in 1986. However, he was sent packing after a lackluster performance with Ginebra, then known as Añejo Rum, in 1988.

Bates was elevated to the PBA Hall of Fame and was hired as a skills coach of the AirAsia Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League last October but was fired in March for supposed repeated misconduct and acts detrimental to the team and to the league.

“We’re sincere to help him but he’s misbehaving of late and we have no other option but to sever our ties with him,” a report on Journal Online quoted team manager Erick Arejola as saying.

Arejola added he already warned Bates before "but he missed several of our practices and made acts detrimental to the image of the team.”

Last February, an article by Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley said Bates' superstar lifestyle in the Philippines may have "undermined his talent."

"Bates' career was reborn in the Philippines, where he played from 1983 to 1988, averaging 46 points and winning three championships. He became a star, nicknamed Black Superman, and he lived a star's life, drinking and womanizing like a Roman emperor. The lifestyle finally undermined his talent," Kelley wrote. - AMD, GMA News