Austin Watson(Photo: Franklin Police Department)
Joined by three uniformed teammates, Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson pulled a yellow “X” off of his mouth.
“I’d never hit my wife,” one of the players says in audio that runs throughout the video, a 2017 public service campaign on speaking out about domestic violence.
“I’d never hurt my girlfriend,” the recording continued.
Domestic violence is part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotional abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically
Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com
Pledging to do their part to “unsilence the violence,” Watson and teammates Mike Fisher, P.K. Subban and Ryan Ellis were poster boys for the YWCA’s AMEND Together program.
Predators’ forward Austin Watson participated in a domestic-violence awareness campaign before he was arrested on domestic assault allegations. (Photo: YouTube)
But what happens when one of those men is charged with domestic assault?
Despite having held domestic violence and sexual assault presentations for players on the issue, the NHL has no policy.
Austin Watson arrest: Predators’ forward participated in domestic-violence awareness effort
On Wednesday, the Franklin Police Department confirmed that Watson, 26, of Nashville, was arrested Saturday night and charged with domestic assault on his girlfriend, with whom he has an infant.
Citing Watson’s lack of responsibilities until the fall, the Predators and the league haven’t decided what to do next.
“Austin doesn’t really have club duties currently,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, in response to Watson’s arrest. “It will be dealt with in due course and prior to next season.”
More: Fans react to Austin Watson’s arrest on domestic assault charge: ‘Awful news’
Daly declined to say what course of action the league would take, noting that the “focus currently is on the well-being and safety of Austin’s girlfriend, their child and Austin himself.”
Of the big four, NHL only major league without domestic violence policy
The nation’s other major sports leagues have policies dictating what to do when a player is charged with a domestic violence offense.
The NBA has 11 pages on the topic in its collective bargaining agreement.
The MLB in 2015 released its set of guidelines on domestic violence, including a commitment to investigate all allegations of such, as well as sexual assault.
In its personal conduct policy, the NFL explicitly prohibits domestic violence, dating violence and other forms of family violence.
But not the NHL, outside of a policy in its collective bargaining agreement pertaining to criminal investigations in general that allows the league to suspend a player pending a formal review.
Several NHL players — including another Nashville Predators forward — have been at the center of domestic and sexual assault allegations.
In nearly all the recent cases, the league has taken a wait-and-see approach, opting not to suspend or terminate the players in question.
“You know we’ve reacted whenever there have been instances with what we thought to be appropriate discipline under the circumstances,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
Predators player charged with assault at Franklin gas station
The most recent case, involving Watson, stemmed from a Saturday night incident at a Williamson County gas station.
According to an arrest affidavit, just after 7 p.m. that day, a Franklin police officer was flagged down by a witness for a possible domestic situation at the Shell Station on Murfreesboro Road.
When the officer responded, he noticed a vehicle at the station whose passenger was trying to “back away from being shoved away,” the affidavit states. “The passenger said ‘stop’ and was trying to cover her face.”
The officer made contact with the driver, later identified as Watson, who said that he and his girlfriend, who was the passenger, were having an argument about her drinking and not being able to attend a wedding, the officer wrote in the affidavit.
At the scene, Watson admitted to pushing his girlfriend and the officer said he noticed red marks on her chest.
Watson was arrested and released after posting a $4,500 bond. He is due in Williamson County General Sessions court June 28.
If convicted of the misdemeanor, Austin faces up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and up to a $2,500 fine, said Williamson County District Attorney Kim Helper.
Watson case follows sexual assault allegations against former Predator
In 2015, a civil suit was filed against Predators center Mike Ribeiro, accusing the NHL forward of sexually assaulting his former nanny in 2012 at his home in McLean, Virginia, shortly after signing with the Washington Capitals.
Ribeiro and his wife later settled the lawsuit.
Ribeiro made Predators general manager David Poile aware of the allegations before signing a one-year, $1.05 million contract in 2014, according to agent Don Meehan. In the news release written by the Predators to announce the signing, Poile said that the team had “done our due diligence.”
“We have been made aware of a complaint against Mike Ribeiro, dating back to his playing time while he was in Dallas,” the team said in a statement in March 2015. “Mike has indicated that the charge is without merit and is prepared to vigorously defend himself. We will allow the legal process to move forward without further comment.”
The Predators that summer re-signed Ribeiro, who didn’t miss any playing time, to a two-year, $7 million contract.
He was reassigned to the team’s American Hockey League minor league affiliate in Milwaukee in 2017.
Though the NHL doesn’t have a policy to follow on the issue, some similar allegations against other league players and prospects, such as Ben Johnson convicted in 2016 of sexually assaulting a teenager, have resulted in termination.
Semyon Varlamov, a Colorado Avalanche goaltender, was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree kidnapping of his girlfriend in 2013, though the case was later dismissed after prosecutors said they couldn’t prove the allegations.
Varlamov, however, was never suspended, and suited up for the team’s next game that fall two days after being arrested.
While being investigated by law enforcement for an alleged sexual assault in Buffalo, N.Y., during the 2015-2016 season, Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane was never suspended.
Prosecutors eventually declined to press charges against him.
YWCA quietly removes domestic violence video featuring Watson
When reached Wednesday, Michelle Mowery Johnson, director of communications for the Nashville YWCA, said the organization has a “strong relationship” with the Nashville Predators, which had been “great supporters” of YWCA’s efforts to reduce violence against women and children.
With the AMEND campaign last year, the Predators Foundation pledged $500,000 to the program, a donation that is being made over a five-year period.
Mowery Johnson said the YWCA trusts that the Predators will handle the allegations against Watson “in a manner that is respectful both to him and his family as well as the potential victim.”
The YWCA on Wednesday quietly pulled the video featuring Watson from its website, however.
“We don’t think it is appropriate for the video to be aired,” Mowery Johnson said.
In a statement from the Predators organization, the team said it was taking the matter seriously and would cooperate with the police investigation, as well as “continue to stand side by side with AMEND in the fight to end violence against women.”
Adam Vingan contributed to this report.
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