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STOCKHOLM – Italian hockey player of British origin Thomas Larkin was accused of badaulting an adversary blindly during a match last year, a Swedish prosecutor said Thursday.
Larkin hit Daniel Paille on the ice and left the Canadian with a serious concussion.
Prosecutor Joakim Johansson said the incident occurred on November 7, 2017 during a match between Swedish club Brynas and the German Adler Mannheim team in Gavle. Larkin was playing for the German team.
According to the indictment obtained by the Associated Press, Paille is the plaintiff. After the attack, he was driven to the emergency of a hospital in Gavle, located 170 kilometers north of Stockholm.
Two days after the incident, Larking apologized on Twitter.
"It was not my intention to cause an injury, I wanted to put pressure on the puck carrier behind the net." I'd like to apologize to Daniel Paille and I hope he'll be back soon, "wrote Larkin.
Johansson said that the decision made last month by the Swedish Supreme Court, at the end of which a Swedish hockey player had been found guilty of badault for verifying the counter-check of a adversary, had paved the way for criminal prosecution.
Incidents on the ice in the NHL have also been brought to court, including in 2004 when the Vancouver Canucks player Todd Bertuzzi was charged with badault for sucker punch that caused a neck fracture to Steve Moore of Colorado. Bertuzzi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation and community service.
In 2000, Marty McSorley was accused of hitting a Canucks player Donald Brashear with his stick. McSorley was convicted of badault with a weapon, but he was released on parole for 18 months, which means no jail time and no criminal record after probation.
No date for a lawsuit in the Larkin case has been announced.
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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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