Yahoo! Sports.com- Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane was charged with attacking a cab driver in his hometown Sunday, a beating that police said was triggered when the driver did not have 20 cents in change to give the player and his cousin. Buffalo police said the 20-year-old Kane and his 21-year-old cousin, James Kane, had apparently caught a cab from the city’s downtown nightclub district at about 4 a.m.
The cab driver suffered cuts to his face and his glasses were damaged, police spokesman Michael DeGeorge said. Both men were charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor counts of theft of services and criminal mischief. Patrick Kane pleaded not guilty in City Court on Sunday, WIVB-TV reported. It was not immediately clear when James Kane will appear in court. The driver said he was punched and hit by both men because he did not have 20 cents in change to give them, according to the police report.
He said at the time he was happy to have time “to hang out back home in Buffalo.”
The driver didn't have his change and -God damnit-he deserved that beating! We're in a recession here, people. I'm not sure if you knew that, but every dime adds up. And I'll be damned if I'm going to get conned out of two dimes. Eight more of those bad boys and Kane could have gotten a 4-piece nugget to satisfy his drunken munchies.
Look, Kane obviously had to have been wasted to pull a stunt like. He's a new, young star in his hometown out for a night with his buddies and probably had one too many Pabsts. But the timing of this embarrassing moment is quite ironic; coming just two days after taking part in a ceremony with Buffalo Mayor, Byron W. Brown, to announce funding for a new skating rink. Mayor Brown even went out on a thing limb calling Kane a "hometown hero". How many cabbies has newly retired Jeremy Roenick hit in the streets of Boston? While I'm thinking of it, how many bum fights has Mario Lemieux been apart of? Maybe Mayor Brown should wait until Kane grows up a bit before anointing him a "hometown hero".
