Evander Kane pleads not guilty in Buffalo bar incident
Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane pled not guilty on Monday to “a misdemeanor charge and five non-criminal charges” stemming from an incident at a downtown Buffalo bar in late June according to the Buffalo News.
Kane was arrested on July 22 for misdemeanor criminal trespass among other charges.
The case is due back in court Sept. 9.
Two Police reports detailed Kane’s alleged actions from early morning on Friday, June 24.
One said, “While inside Bottoms Up nightclub, suspect threatened complainant and made derogatory comments to her. While outside in the parking lot of bar, suspect grabbed complainant around the throat and tried pushing her into his car.”
Another noted, “that while inside Bottoms Up, suspect grabbed her by the arms and tried forcing her out of the bar.”
The News recently reported sworn depositions from women who filed complaints against Kane.
One woman said that Kane demanded she leave with him.
“He came up to me like he always does,” she said. “He said, ‘You’re coming to my house with me and you’re going to like it.’ … He grabbed my neck with both hands and pulled me close. It was like I couldn’t breathe. It hurt. When I told him no, he went off. That’s how he treats women. Aggressive and disrespectful.”
The Buffalo News obtained the depositions by the three women who were customers and the bouncer at the club, with names redacted.
“I’m scared of him. If I see him, I’ll be scared,” said a woman who declared that Kane grabbed her by the neck unexpectedly after she gave him a hug.
“It came out of nowhere,” she said. “I was surprised. I don’t really know him. He squeezed me pretty hard. I lost my breath for a second. I went into the bathroom and my neck was red. After he squeezed my neck, he kept after me about hooking up. I kept telling him no. He pulled my hair and went off.”
Another woman who is familiar with Kane gave a similar deposition.
“He said to me, ‘Are you ready to leave?’ I said no,” she related. “He grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the crowd. I was scared and wanted to get away.”
A third woman told police she was near the bar, talking with friends, when Kane “comes up and pulls my hair hard. … He pulled it so hard he pulled my whole head. It hurt a lot.”
Later, she said, he grabbed her hair again and pushed it up to her face, then argued with her until a third person stepped between them.
Kane was investigated by police in Dec. 2015 for an alleged ‘sex offense’ at a local hotel. He was later cleared of all wrongdoing by the police.
The Buffalo News also noted Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty Jr. said that a “maximum sentence for a conviction on a violation is 30 days in jail, while the maximum for a conviction on a class B misdemeanor is 90 days in jail.”
Buffalo traded for Kane in the 2014-15 season after Kane had a tumultuous six years with the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers organization. In his first season with the Sabres last year, Kane had 20 goals in 65 games. In 2011-12, he set a career best with 30 goals, but hasn’t scored more than 20 since.
Recently, Kane’s name has popped up in trade rumors – specifically to his hometown Vancouver Canucks. Sabres general manager Tim Murray addressed Kane’s legal trouble on June 25 at the NHL Draft saying the team would “deal with it” if the accusations were true.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
