Report: Accuser Claims Patrick Kane Overpowered And Raped Her

Saturday was Patrick Kane’s scheduled day with the Stanley Cup. He had planned to bring it to Sky Bar, a downtown Buffalo rooftop club, to celebrate. Those plans changed when Kane became the subject of a rape investigation, accused by a woman he reportedly met at Sky Bar the week before.

The on the alleged events of the early morning of Aug. 2, including specific claims reportedly made by the accuser. Via “sources close to the investigation,” the woman told police that she and a friend met Kane at Sky Bar before he invited them back to his lakefront home for a private party.

Shortly after she and her friend arrived at Kane’s home on Old Lakeshore Road, the accuser alleges that she went by herself into another room, where Kane followed her, overpowered her and raped her, the sources said.

According to the News’ sources, the woman called a relative immediately after the attack. She then went to a hospital for examination, including a rape kit.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that the young woman who has accused the hockey superstar of rape had bite marks on her shoulders and a scratch on her leg after the alleged attack.

Police were called, and Kane’s home was searched the next day.

There is a lot more in the Buffalo News story, and the largest section—from an interview with the owner of Sky Bar, is really fucking questionable. Mark Croce is afforded plenty of space to tell the paper that a woman was being “very forward, very flirtatious” with Kane—who he says wasn’t noticeably drunk—and that she “followed” him when he left the bar.

This is irresponsible reporting by the News. Brian Moritz and Alan Bedenko have already written about the inclusion of Croce’s account, and they’ve both done excellent jobs of it, so I urge you to read both of them. Moritz identifies this as what it is: victim-blaming. The implication is that the woman was drunk and attracted to Kane—neither of which has the least relevance to anything that may have happened later that night, or the question of consent. Bedenko calls out the for failing to put Croce’s comments in the context of a biased bar owner attempting to avoid liability in any potential criminal investigations or civil suits that may spring from this incident. (There were originally photos of Kane at the bar posted on Sky Bar’s Facebook page, but after news of the accusations broke, the bar deleted those photos.)

In the News story, Croce finally admits he has no idea if the woman at the bar was the same one who accused Kane of rape. That alone should have been enough for the paper to not publish his remarks. The News has been doing very good reporting on the Kane investigation, but this was a very bad move.

Kane, whose citywide Stanley Cup bash on Saturday was canceled in favor of a private party at his home, is being represented by a prominent local defense attorney. The alleged victim’s family has also obtained a lawyer.

Photo credit: Nam Y. Huh/AP