Well if nothing else, the Blackhawks have given us lots to write about this season. The latest is the arrest of star forward Patrick Kane for allegedly assaulting and robbing a Buffalo cabbie early sunday morning.
The early reports didn't sound too good, Kane and his cousin beating up the driver, Jan Radecki, for a measly twenty cents, but something tells RTB there is more to this story.
Kane and his cousin were obviously out drinking when they jumped in the cab. The cabbie maintains that the Kanes gave him $15 for a $13.80 fare, when the driver gave them a dollar back and told them that he didn't have the extra twenty cents, then they started choking him and punching him and took their money back. This is where the robbery charge comes from.
Today, Andrew C. LoTempio, the lawyer for Mr. Radecki says the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion and that he doubts the pair will face felony charges. He also goes on to say that he feels things can be worked out between the two sides.
It was also revealed that Buffalo cabbies have a policy of locking the doors to the car so that passengers can't jump out and skip out on the fare. Something that was apparently instituted because of Buffalo college students. Radecki also says he didn't realize who Patrick Kane was and mistook the two as students.
Here is my take on this, keep in mind that we haven't heard anything from Kane himself yet, but if what the cabbie says is true and you believe his story completely then you would have to wonder what the fuck Kane was thinking, but I don't believe a young NHL star with that kind of money is going to go nuts over twenty cents, that sounds absurd to me.
I would personally give him the $15 and be done with it. Then again, the boys were having a few and so maybe they weren't thinking straight.
The second thing that bothers me about this is that Radecki locked the doors and presumably wouldn't let them out of the car which could have angered them and provoked a response of some sort.
The third thing and maybe its just me reading between the lines here, but why would the cabbie be so willing to quickly settle this out of court. It seems to me, if he is in the right, then he would have the potential to sue Kane for a lot of dough. He isn't doing that though, through his lawyer, he is saying he would be willing to settle quickly out of court. To me this sounds a little "shakedown-ish", but I don't know. His ship would seem to have come in as they say, but he seems okay with something out of court.
I don't condone what the boys did, but I think there is more to this than meets the eye. They shouldn't have laid a hand on the guy that is for sure, but alcohol has a way of impairing good judgement.
One thing is for sure, Kane's side needs to come out and clear the air and let everyone hear his side of the story.
