The Montreal Canadiens are having problems.
They lost to the Maple Leafs, and then they lost to the Senators. Now, two of their players have been arrested in Tampa.
Last night, several players were at a nightclub in Tampa and a woman left her purse on the counter and it went missing. Habs defenceman Ryan O'Byrne (left) was found outside with this purse and the woman's cell phone in his hand. When asked whose purse it was, he said it was his girlfriend's, but couldn't seem to come up with her name.
O'Byrne was arrested and charged with grand theft. His teammate, Tom Kostopoulos, was also arrested - for resisting an officer without violence when he refused to obey the police officer's orders.
Both players posted bail (O'Byrne $2000, Kostopoulos $500).
The Habs have yet to comment on the situation, but are said to talk to the media following this afternoon's practice.
They lost to the Maple Leafs, and then they lost to the Senators. Now, two of their players have been arrested in Tampa.
Last night, several players were at a nightclub in Tampa and a woman left her purse on the counter and it went missing. Habs defenceman Ryan O'Byrne (left) was found outside with this purse and the woman's cell phone in his hand. When asked whose purse it was, he said it was his girlfriend's, but couldn't seem to come up with her name.
O'Byrne was arrested and charged with grand theft. His teammate, Tom Kostopoulos, was also arrested - for resisting an officer without violence when he refused to obey the police officer's orders.
Both players posted bail (O'Byrne $2000, Kostopoulos $500).
The Habs have yet to comment on the situation, but are said to talk to the media following this afternoon's practice.
6 comments:
OMG!!!
Gee, if you want to carry a purse, at least do that in Ottawa and not Tampa!
Seriously....this sounds like a mistake. First, whoever the woman was that left her purse unattended deserved to have it taken (in a sense).
Second, these guys make enough cash that I seriously doubt they need to resort to purse-snatching to pay their bar tab.
Either the woman set him up or his girlfriend really was there and he got the purses mixed-up when she asked him to fetch it for her????
I wonder though...do girlfriends normally travel with the team? I DON'T THINK SO!!
PS: The bail amounts were nothing for guys making that kind of money.
The reason why I think that it wasn't a mixup is because O'Byrne didn't know the name of his 'girlfriend'. Who knows why he actually took the purse in the first place...
You're right, O'Byrne's bail wasn't all that much, but he's a rookie with the team who was just called up from the AHL yesterday, so he's definitely not making Crosby-money. Given that, I think the bail amount was a tiny little sting..but not much.
The reason why Kostopoulos was arrested was because the officers told the crowd to stand back as they arrested O'Byrne and Kostopoulos didn't listen. I suppose that's why the cops went easy on him.
It'll be interesting to see what Coach Carbonneau and GM Gainey have to say about the purse snatcher. Not exactly a good impression on the team.
Yikes, not a smart thing to do at all...young and foolish...
"The reason why I think that it wasn't a mixup is because O'Byrne didn't know the name of his 'girlfriend'."
Pertinent info that I wasn't aware of at all.
extradi
I also had never heard of O'Byrne coming up from the AHL so that does make a difference of course.
Agree the cops were easier on Kostopoulos (that's a fun one to type!) for the reasons you mentioned. But when cops tell you to do something, I've always said you better listen to them regardless.
Bail-wise, there's two ways to look at this....seeing how they aren't US residents, it's a bit surprising they set it so low seeing how Canada isn't about to extradite them for petty purse snatching. Then again, there would be warrants out for their arrest if they didn't show for a hearing/trial and they'd be easy to re-arrest the next time the team crosses the border for a game.
This is just one really weird story!
Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear in the original post about the circumstances of O'Byrne's arrest and his status in the NHL. He did play a few games earlier this year, but he's by no means a regular in their lineup.
Dabich - yeah, it's definitely a foolish thing to do. It'll be interesting to see if it impacts on how long they stay with Montreal.
I'm not quite sure what will happen as the case(s) go to court. It's a weird story for sure.
Actually...my bad.
Your article does state those things and I was just too burned-out when I replied.
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