Arrest over Johnson death / released within 24 hours, investigation remains open

[Statto]

Adam Johnson: Manslaughter arrest over ice hockey player's death

A man is held in connection with the death of Nottingham Panthers player Adam Johnson.

www.bbc.co.uk

Only broke in UK a few minutes ago. Arrested for Manslaughter. Please note arrested NOT charged at this time.

Click to read more...

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Need more details, but on the surface, that's not a good thing, arresting people for sports accidents, unless there's video of the guy intentionally kicking at Johnson.......

 

[hi]

Good. Hopefully there is a conviction

 

[Empoleon8771]

Stupid decision. It was a freak accident and trying to charge someone for it is disgusting.

The dude is already scarred for life from the incident itself, what does throwing him in jail accomplish?

 

[Mitch nylander]

Shouldn't be convicted. It was an accident. There has been far more heinous acts in our sport, this just had an incredibly sad result.

 

[zenthusiast]

Is it possible to divorce what actually happened from the culture war bullshit at this point

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Such a shitty situation but I think it’s the right decision.

 

[Sheppy]

Holy shit.

 

[BonMorrison]

Literally just a freak accident, hopefully nothing comes of this.

 

[Ninety7]

Damn seems harsh for an on ice accident.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Do they have preliminary inquiries before trials in the UK? I don't think this would ever make it to trial in Canada but stranger things have happened.

 

[LT]

This makes no sense. It happened during play. It was a freak accident.

If it happened between whistles, maybe... but I don't see how this helps the situation in any way.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

"A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of a fatal neck injury, South Yorkshire Police said."

Wow, thanks for that Earth Shattering news, policemen.

 

[895]

Killing a man was the accidental part. I don't believe kicking his leg out was an accident.

So, when you kick your leg out and someone dies accidentally from that, that''s manslaughter. Seems like an okay arrest to me.

 

[Siludin]

Assuming the UK police have substantially better footage than the grainy stuff we got.
People were talking about seeing a "kick" when he was flying through the air, but nobody wanted to stand behind the sentiment when people began to pile on the other side.
There may have also been things happening on the ice that we didn't see (words exchanged, retribution promised, etc).
If there is enough to charge someone usually it's more compelling than "person died - let's find someone to blame"

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Yeam seems like pretty extreme overreach by prosecutors and law enforcement...

Can't imagine a jury convicting him, what's the point of this...lots of people are going to suffer again having to relive this if it goes to a trial.

 

[Czechboy]

Not proud to admit this but I did look at the video.

He was being reckless to my eye.

However, surprised this is goign to court. Just an awful situation all around. Not sure if it's the right call or not. Not sure what the victim's family is thinking either.

 

[BLNY]

I haven't, and won't, watch it the clip. I'd heard the other player was perhaps somewhat careless, but that it was a completely accidental play. To charge this player with manslaughter would be akin Chris Therien having been charged if the slap shot he took that struck Trent McCleary in the throat had killed him (granted it would have had Dr. Mulder not been so proactive and performed the tracheostomy in the tunnel to the locker room). This seems like an overreach to me.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Need more details, but on the surface, that's not a good thing, arresting people for sports accidents, unless there's video of the guy intentionally kicking at Johnson.......

Exactly. Absolutely ridiculous someone is being arrested for this.

 

[Team_Spirit]

People digged for weeks for a similar missed hit that ended with a front kick to the neck. So far no luck if you find one send it to his lawyer.

 

[tny760]

i'm not really interested in frame-by-framing that video but i'm not seeing reason to charge

then again i don't know how things are done in the UK and i'm not sure they do either

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

How his leg came up did look a bit unnatural.. but it'd be pretty incredible if it was planned.

I guess the important part here is if there's people who can testify or phone records or something that show a motive. If not, I have a hard time seeing this being deemed as anything more than an accident at the end of the day.

Edit: motive doesn’t seem to matter in involuntary manslaughter

 

[Empoleon8771]

Saw this comment on Reddit regarding UK laws regarding manslaughter:

The breach of duty must be so bad as to be gross, i.e. criminal. This was defined in Adomako [1994] 3 All ER 79 as follows: having regard to the risk of death involved, was the conduct of the defendant so bad in all the circumstances as to amount to a criminal act or omission? The prosecution must prove the following two elements:

a) that the circumstances were such that a reasonably prudent person in the defendant's position would have foreseen a serious and obvious risk of death arising from the defendant's act or omission;

b) that the breach of duty was, in all the circumstances, so reprehensible and fell so far below the standards to be expected of a person in the defendant's position with his qualifications, experience and responsibilities that it amounted to a crime.

The only argument that can be made is that he intentionally kicked Johnson and that it violates one of these, but that seems like a huge stretch. I sincerely doubt he gets charged, but it’s a joke that it’s even getting to this point.

 

[Kravtsov420]

Well, the US justice system did come from the UKs…

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Saw this comment on Reddit regarding UK laws regarding manslaughter:



The only argument that can be made is that he intentionally kicked Johnson and that it violates one of these, but that seems like a huge stretch. I sincerely doubt he gets charged, but it’s a joke that it’s even getting to this point.

He's being arrested weeks later after it happened, that's gotta mean charges have been filed...whether they stick or get dropped later on is another question i guess