Chicago Blackhawks Forward Patrick Kane Arrested

Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, the top overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft, was arrested early Sunday morning in Buffalo, N.Y., and charged with theft of services, criminal mischief and robbery in the second degree after an incident with a cab driver, according to multiple media reports.

The 20-year-old Kane and his cousin, James M. Kane, 21, were taken into police custody at about 5 a.m. ET after allegedly punching the driver and taking $15 in fare they had given him after he said he didn’t have 20 cents in change, a police report says.

The driver said his glasses were broken as he was hit in the face and head and grabbed by the throat, according to the report.

WIVB-TV in Buffalo reported that an attorney for Kane has entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf in a city court. Second-degree robbery is a Class C felony. The fourth-degree criminal mischief and theft-of-services charges are both Class A misdemeanors.

Kane’s arrest comes only days after he took part in a ceremony announcing the funding of an ice rink in his native Buffalo, according to the Buffalo News.

On Thursday, Kane joined Mayor Byron W. Brown at Timothy J. Burvid Ice Rink in South Buffalo.

“Today is special for me,” Kane said at the ceremony, according to the News. “This is where I grew up playing hockey. This is the first rink I probably skated in when I was 6 years old.”

Brown referred to Kane and fellow NHL star and Buffalo native Tim Kennedy as “hometown heroes,” the report said.

“I’ll tell you one thing: It’s a lot of fun playing in the NHL and playing on the ice and playoffs and certain things, and being part of an Original Six organization with the Blackhawks,” Kane told a crowd during the event. “But to come back home and drive in the driveway for the first time for summer, and realize that you have a long time to hang out back home in Buffalo [is a great feeling].

“The best thing about it is my friends treat me like I’m a regular kid. They don’t treat me like a celebrity or whatever; they might treat me like in Chicago.”

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