NBA's Miles Bridges Drills Fan With Mouthpiece In Angry Exit From Court

Charlotte Hornets star Miles Bridges was so furious after being ejected from a game Wednesday night -- he angrily chucked his mouthpiece into the stands, accidentally hitting a young girl near her face.

The wild moment happened in the fourth quarter of the Hornets' blowout loss to the Hawks in Atlanta -- just seconds after Bridges was tossed from the contest for arguing about a goaltending call.

The 24-year-old was pissed at the ref for blowing the whistle on him ... and he was so livid, his teammates and coaches had to usher him off the floor before things escalated.

But, as Bridges was on his way back to the locker room, an Atlanta fan appeared to taunt him -- which set the Hornets forward off.

Check out the video from the game's broadcast -- Bridges attempted to launch his mouthguard at the heckler ... but it missed, and hit a girl in the neck area.

The girl did not appear to be injured -- but she was clearly confused and perturbed.

After the game, Bridges calmed down and apologized for it all ... and said during his meeting with reporters that he was hoping to get in contact with the girl and "do something nice for her."

"I was aiming for the guy that was screaming at me and it hit a little girl," Bridges said. "So that's definitely unacceptable on my part and I take full responsibility."

"That's out of character for me," he added. "You've been around me -- I don't act like that or ever flash out like that. So, that was definitely wrong, a lot of emotions and hopefully, I can get in contact with the young girl and sincerely apologize to her and do something nice for her, but that's definitely on me."

The NBA is expected to hand down a punishment sooner than later -- and Bridges made it clear, he's going to accept whatever comes his way from league officials.

"I'm ready for any consequence that the NBA gives me," he said.