More Felony Charges for LA Kings Players
- Updated: November 18, 2015
LA Kings goalie prospect Patrik Bartosak found himself facing 12 charges including one felony of second degree assault and seven simple assault charges for allegedly stalking and assaulting his girlfriend. According to reports he was arrested Monday morning for pushing her against a wall, putting his hand around her neck and choking her, grabbing, punching, and slapping her, and making threats against her life. He reportedly grabbed her right chest and pulled her up off a bed, punched her in the chest twice, slapped her in the face and slapped her three times on both legs. A further three criminal threatening charges profess he told her:
“If you don’t have anything to say I’m going to kill you,” “I’m going to punch you in the face if you don’t say anything,” and “I hope you know I’m going to knock you out and put you to sleep before I leave.”
The LA Kings suspended Bartosak without pay and released the following statement:
“This morning our Club suspended Patrik Bartosak for his actions resulting in his arrest in Manchester, NH on November 16. We take this matter very seriously. Our response in this matter reflects our extreme disappointment, particularly given the programs we have instituted internally and the commitment our organization has made to educating our players on the prevention of domestic violence. This is the first step in an ongoing process as we continue to gather information related to this incident and monitor the legal proceedings.”
The situation is certainly disappointing for the LA Kings, who last year faced a similar issue with their defenseman Slava Voynov; he plead down his domestic abuse felony charges to misdemeanors, served community service and was sentenced to a year of counseling. He later was detained by immigration and chose to voluntarily leave the country before he could be deported. It was a much more confusing situation as it unravelled; the NHL suspended Voynov with pay and he remained on the Kings salary cap for months before officially being charged. This time, as he is not officially a member of the NHL (he plays for the LA Kings affiliates the Manchester Monarchs and Ontario Reign), the NHL claims no jurisdiction and the LA Kings can chose to dispel any punishment that they see fit. There is the argument to be made ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ but with the complications of last season the LA Kings cannot afford to give him the benefit of the doubt.
This season the LA Kings took the positive step this season of hiring former NHL player Brett Myhers as the players assistant director. Myhers was suspended four times during his career for dirty drug tests and eventually given a lifetime ban. He has since then reformed his life and serves as a sort of mentor for players. “It just so happens Dean was the first general manager to be proactive enough to approach me on it,” Myhres said in an interview with The Times. “This is an in-house program that we’ve structured. They’re going to have every resource available to them, whether it’s about drugs, alcohol or domestic violence or gambling. They’re going to have resources to be able to use at any point of their playing careers.”
“We neglected to educate our players,” Lombardi said last June. “We spend time teaching them systems, nutrition and everything else, but we missed a big step here in terms of ensuring they understand right and wrong and that this has to be reinforced, not only as a human being, but as somebody who is a representative of your community to heighten the need for this.”
Bartosak has been released on $10,000 cash/security bond, and will attend a hearing on all charges on December 16th.
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