The Boston Celtics fan who was accused of throwing a water bottle at Kyrie Irving has been banned from the Celtics area, the TD Garden, indefinitely.

The Boston Police Department has identified the fan as Cole Buckley, 21, of Braintree, Massachusetts. Appearing at Boston Municipal Court for his arraignment, Buckley pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on Wednesday, according to the local CBS affiliate. He was released after posting a $500 bond. 

"We are not going to allow this trend to continue. Period. End of story. We have not charged him with a race-based hate crime or civil rights violation, but you don’t get to behave this way,” Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins said, according to TMZ.

When Irving headed to the locker room following the Nets' 141-126 blowout victory over the Celtics in game 4 of the NBA playoffs, he was nearly hit with a bottle that was tossed at his head. After the wild scene, fans identified Buckley as the culprit. He was immediately arrested and escorted out of the arena.

As Blavity previously reported, after the game, Irving described the incident as just another example of "underlying racism," that he hoped to avoid during his return to Boston with fans in the stands.

“It’s been that way in history in terms of entertainment, performers, and sports for a long period of time, just underlying racism and just treating people like they’re in a human zoo. Throwing stuff at people and saying things. It’s a certain point where it gets to be too much […] people just feel very entitled out here,” Irving explained.

Rollins echoed similar sentiments on Wednesday about the racial climate that’s unavoidable with fans crossing the line with Black athletes.

"It is not lost on me that he chose to do this in a sport that is overwhelmingly Black men,” she noted.

For his alleged behavior, Buckley is also facing a potential lifetime ban from TD Garden.

He’s currently a student at the University of Rhode Island and a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. The college, as well as the fraternity, are investigating the incident for any violations that Buckley may have committed.

Buckley left the courtroom without speaking to reporters and his attorney filed a motion to postpone the arraignment, but it was denied.

He’s scheduled to be back in court in August.

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