The fact that the Patrick Kane incident last week in Buffalo is going to a grand jury to see if an indictment is warranted is a waste of taxpayer money.

The media and the public over dramatize any hint of wrongdoing by people in the public eye. Lately sports figures, rightly or wrongly, have born the brunt of this attention.

When the world first heard the news about the Kane’s altercation with the cab driver through the usual hockey media outlets, it read to me as a clear cut case of  two young punks assaulting a cab driver. But the report didn’t ring true. Why would a big hockey star like Patrick Kane become involved in such an unseemly and petty situation?

Sure, two young fellas out on a Saturday night had probably hoisted a few beers with friends. They were smart enough not to drink and drive. So, they do the right thing and  hail a cab. What transpired in the cab is unknown. It ends up in a violent incident with the cousins seemingly assaulting the cab driver. Now Patrick Kane and his cousin are facing a felony robbery and misdemeanor counts of theft and criminal mischief.

Apparently, a witness saw the altercation and said the boys were beating up the cabbie. The cabbie lawyers up and appears in interviews with cuts and bruises. It’s looking really bad for Patrick Kane.  

Then, the lawyer for the cabbie pulls in his horns and says that the whole incident is being blown out of proportion. Hmm. Maybe the cabbie’s lawyer just learned of Kane’s lawyer’s revealation to the press that this cabbie apparently has a couple of DUI convictions and was driving the Kanes without a valid driver’s license?

The fact that cab drivers in Buffalo apparently have the right to lock doors on passenger should be challenged.  How is that not considered involuntary imprisonment or kidnapping?  And, this wasn’t the first time this same cab driver had altercations with passengers and locked his doors.

If the Kanes are not convicted of any criminal wrongdoing, the cabbie and his lawyer will not have much of a case for a civil suit. By saying the case was being blown out of proportion was, to me, clearly an attempt by the cabbie’s lawyer to backpeddle his client’s criminal history in an attempt to seek an out of court settlement.

Frankly, if the grand jury finds in favor of Patrick Kane and his cousin, the cabbie and his lawyer should be made to pay all the court costs. After all, it was his statement to the police that forced a grand jury proceeding in the first place.

Maybe a ruling in favor of the Kanes and against the cabbie will make opportunists out there think twice before trying to squeeze money out sports stars and celebrities. It certainly would cut down on the frivolous litigation clogging up the court systems.

Posted under New York Rangers