Indianapolis ? Indiana Pacers coach Isiah Thomas was ticketed for failing to obey an officer early Sunday after police pulled over his vehicle.

Thomas was pulled over about 3:30 a.m., shortly after he returned from a Pacers game in Denver. A sergeant from the Marion County Sheriff’s Department saw him driving in a lane that had been closed following a traffic accident on Interstate 465 on the west side of Indianapolis.

When the officer asked to see Thomas’ driver’s license, Thomas refused and was removed from his car and briefly handcuffed, said Joseph McAtee, the department’s deputy chief.

Officers had intended to arrest Thomas for failing to identify himself but decided to issue only a traffic ticket after finding a wallet with identification in Thomas’ vehicle, McAtee said.

Thomas said he was worried about the wreck.

“It was a tense situation,” Thomas said in a statement issued by the team Sunday night. “The police were worried one of their fellow officers was hurt. And I was thinking it could be one of my players.”

Responded McAtee: “If he would have told them when he was stopped, it would have made a big difference. No officers said he indicated that to them at all.”

McAtee said the two officers who initially confronted Thomas do not follow basketball and did not know who Thomas was, even after learning his name. Only when someone from the Pacers arrived did they realize Thomas was the team’s coach.

While officers were searching for Thomas’ wallet, they found a large amount of cash. McAtee said the money, the time of night and Thomas’ behavior prompted officers to call for a drug-sniffing dog. The dog found no hint of drugs.

When officers attempted to give Thomas the ticket, he refused to take it. Officers placed the ticket and the wallet inside his car, McAtee said.

Thomas refused to leave the scene, saying he did not have his identification. He was still at the scene when sheriff’s officials left, McAtee said.