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Subject: Report: Fleury under investigation by team, NHL
Posted by: B-TRAIN
- [52040815] Wed, Jan 22, 2003, 12:39
Blackhawks forward Theo Fleury is under investigation by his team and the league as the result of an altercation early Sunday outside an Ohio strip club, the Chicago Tribune, citing team sources, reported Wednesday.
According to a Columbus police report cited by the Columbus Dispatch, Fleury said bouncers hit him several times. A Columbus ambulance squad was summoned, but Fleury refused treatment for a cut over his left eye, the report said.
Witnesses told the Dispatch that employees at Pure Platinum struck Fleury after he punched one of them as he and two other men were being thrown out of the club.
The police report indicates Fleury was intoxicated, although no tests were conducted. If the league determines Fleury, who missed the season's first 25 games for violating his substance abuse aftercare program, was intoxicated, it likely would be a further violation of that program and could result in a suspension of at least six months.
Pure Platinum is a popular spot with visiting NHL players. The club does not have a liquor license but allows customers to bring in alcohol.
The decision on such a suspension rests solely with the doctors who are monitoring him, the Tribune story said. As part of the program, Fleury, 34, is tested randomly for drugs and alcohol three times a week. The Blackhawks also have hired a friend of Fleury's, Jim Jenkins, to be with him nearly every waking moment, the newspaper said.
No charges were filed in connection with the incident. The names of Fleury's companions involved were not known. Fleury was listed as a victim of assault by the reporting officer, but he refused to sign the report, a police spokesman told ESPN.
Blackhawks general manager Mike Smith told the Chicago Tribune that he met with Fleury on Tuesday afternoon about the matter in Chicago but did not issue a statement.
"Without knowing all the facts, it's hard for me to say much on it," Smith said. "I've been looking into trying to find out what went on."
The fracas began at about 4 a.m., said several Pure Platinum dancers and employees who requested anonymity, about 3½ hours after the Blackhawks arrived in Columbus from a game in St. Louis on Saturday. One club employee said Fleury and the others had been asked to leave.
"All three of them got to the door and then (Fleury) turned around and threw a punch," one employee told the Dispatch.
Fleury and his companions walked across the street to a gas station, where an employee summoned an ambulance. But the players left in a cab before the ambulance arrived. Police stopped the cab at 4:45 a.m., police officer John Wish said Tuesday night.
"One of the guys got out of the car, said they were famous, and they did not want to be identified," Wish said. "I wanted to get somebody to come look at (Fleury), because it looked serious. That's why we called the squad."
Fleury played against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. His face was bruised and swollen, he had a cut over his left eye, and his right hand had several cuts and scrapes. Fleury doesn't usually wear a visor, but he wore one in the Blackhawks' 5-1 loss.
One Blue Jackets player spotted Fleury getting stitches Sunday in Nationwide Arena, the Dispatch reported.
Asked Monday night about the incident, Fleury told the Dispatch, "Those are rumors, and I don't respond to rumors."
Fleury, in his 15th NHL season, said his injuries were sustained when he was checked into the boards during a loss Saturday night in St. Louis, but observers couldn't recall a hit that would have caused such injuries.
Fleury was cleared to return to the NHL in early December after being suspended indefinitely on Oct. 8 for violating his aftercare program. He made his season debut on Dec. 6, scoring a goal in a 4-3 loss to Anaheim.
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| 1 | Caper
ID: 1223648
Wed, Jan 22, 2003, 13:42
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That is sad. He just doesn't get it or, even worse, cannot control it. He is destroying a great carreer. I hate to see someone overcome such great odds and be defeated by booze.
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| 2 | Puckprophet
ID: 1210541114
Wed, Jan 22, 2003, 16:24
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who hasn't been cuffed up outside a peeler bar??
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| 3 | John Budge
Donor
ID: 51042247
Fri, Jan 24, 2003, 08:43
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How many chances does this nitwit get??
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| 4 | B-TRAIN
ID: 52040815
Fri, Jan 24, 2003, 14:56
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Six, twelve, or possibly twenty four.
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| 5 | C.SuperFreaks
ID: 380481120
Fri, Jan 24, 2003, 22:46
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Could have been the whiskey, might have been the gin.
Could have been three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in,
My head is like a football, I think I'm gonna die,
Tell me, me oh me oh my,
Wasn't that a party?
Someone took a grapefruit and filled in up with liquor,
Brought in the platinum club, and gulped with the stripper,
They were talking about hockey and the bouncer was talkin' back,
Along about then everything went black,
But wasn't that a party?
I'm sure it's just my memory playin' tricks on me,
But I think I saw that bouncers fist coming straight a me,
Could have been the whiskey, might have been the gin.
Could have been three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in,
My head is like a football, I think I'm gonna die,
Tell me, me oh me oh my,
Wasn't that a party?
Old Lyle O. and Sully, well they went a little far,
They were playing with a peelers bra and blowing on the siren in somebody's police car.
So you see, your honour,
It was all in fun,
That little bitty strip shack down on main street,
Was just to see if the cops could run,
Well, they run us in to see you,
In an alcoholic haze,
I can sure use those thirty days to recover from the party.
Could have been the whiskey, might have been the gin.
Could have been three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in,
My head is like a football, I think I'm gonna die,
Tell me, me oh me oh my,
Wasn't that a party?
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| 6 | ¤ Mario LeMoose ¤
ID: 10112610
Sun, Jan 26, 2003, 11:11
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Fleury not the only guilty party
In the end, Theo Fleury wasn't the only one displaying impaired judgment this week.
The same can be said for his twin accomplices and a Chicago Blackhawks team that chose to treat Fleury's strip club fight as an "internal" matter.
No suspension.
No significant penalty.
It's believed that Fleury and the two teammates on the scene when Fleury was beaten up by club bouncers in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday night were each fined $1,000 by the NHL team. Phil Housley and Tyler Arnason have been reported to be the other two 'Hawks implicated.
And from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Fleury vs. how many bouncers? Maybe 1
... Phil Housley, reportedly one of the players involved in the fracas, had been one of the club's four assistant captains. He didn't wear the "A" on his sweater Saturday.
(Click on the links above to view the complete articles.)
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