Suspension/Fine Lightning Suspend Ian Cole, Accused of Grooming, Sexual Assault; League Investigating

[Phil]

 

 

[Phil]

If the allegations are corroborated by the NHL, this guy is going to prison.

[Phil]

 

[Valriera]

Holy shit 

[BrooksBurner]

Ian Cole apparently cheated on his wife with the Hurricanes reporter Abby Labar, who is now fired. Wonder if she's puking in her mouth right about now...

 

Feel incredibly bad for his wife and family...first the affair, now finding out your husband had a habit of getting involved with minors. Yikes. Big yikes.

[phillyb]

If this is true, fuck this piece of shit. The last paragraph says a lot too and it's going to be important for the NHL to handle this properly. 

I can't even imagine what it's like to be a victim of this kind of shit; I feel terrible for the woman. 

[Phil]

 

[Kevin]

2 hours ago, phillyb said:

If this is true, fuck this piece of shit. The last paragraph says a lot too and it's going to be important for the NHL to handle this properly. 

I can't even imagine what it's like to be a victim of this kind of shit; I feel terrible for the woman. 

The effects that sexual assaults are tremendously far-reaching. My heart goes out to anyone that’s had to deal with this pain in their lives.

 

 That being said there’s something not quite right with this. Hopefully the investigation will shine some light onto it because it certainly is murky at the moment.

[Keirik]

3 minutes ago, Kevin said:

The effects that sexual assaults are tremendously far-reaching. My heart goes out to anyone that’s had to deal with this pain in their lives.

 

 That being said there’s something not quite right with this. Hopefully the investigation will shine some light onto it because it certainly is murky at the moment.

There’s a lot to unpack. There also is the way of this whole statement being very littered with buzz words and lawyer led statements. It comes off a big disingenuous but it’s hard to judge. If true, screw this dude, but im reserving judgement. The attacking the NHL part of it seems extremely ambitious. A whole lot of darts thrown. 

[Keirik]

Also keep in mind I believe the age of consent in Missouri where Cole played his first 4 seasons in STL is 17. However, there is an exception to the age of consent if both people are over the age of 14 and under the age of 21. This exception is often referred to as a “Romeo and Juliet Law.” As long as the contact is consensual, and both people are between 14 and 21, then the conduct is not criminal.

 

not sure if Cole was 20 or not. He was a rookie in the NHL at 21. 

 

 

https://kornerlaw.com/sex-crimes-defense/what-is-the-age-of-consent-in-missouri/

[jsm7302]

These cases are generally prosecuted on testimony of fresh complaint witnesses and circumstantial evidence due to the timeliness not being akin to having physical evidence available. He said, she said cases generally aren't strong cases.

 

With that said, if he was bragging about this around the locker room and more people were aware of this at the time then this dude is not only looking at his reputation (what is left of it after stepping out on his wife and kids) being destroyed but also looking at possible jail time if she was as young as alluded to in that message. Investigators have some work to do.

 

I'll hold judgement until the investigation is complete but I hope she found some solace in making her story known even if the evidence doesn't allow for further action. 

[Sod16]

She keeps on talking about "minors", but a 17 year old is a minor and legal.  A one-sided relationship in which a dominant predatorial misogynistic male pressures a legal female into sex does not amount to rape absent concrete threats.  Obviously, if she was under 17 and he over 20, all that changes (as noted, he was 21 when his NHL career started).  There's still the problem of the incidents occurring over 10 years ago.

 

One offhand note, while the cut off for turning 5 to start kindergarten is typically Jan. 1 in the East, it is more typically Sept. 1 in the Midwest, with the result being that you have a lot more 17 year old juniors and 18 year old seniors in HS than in the East.

 

But did she say "Wherefore art thou Ian?"

 

There are a lot of good guys in the NHL, and there are quite a few Ian Coles, as well.

 

 

[Phil]

 

[jsm7302]

Either he doesn't sleep going forward waiting for the other shoe to drop or it truly is a false allegation and he is relieved and can go on with life. Either way, welcome back to the NHL Ian Cole.

[Pete]

21 minutes ago, jsm7302 said:

Either he doesn't sleep going forward waiting for the other shoe to drop or it truly is a false allegation and he is relieved and can go on with life. Either way, welcome back to the NHL Ian Cole.

We can't let the default positive be to believe the accuser. Give them their due attention, consideration, but not absolution. 

[josh]

As someone involved with such investigations and allegations for work, “consider this matter closed” doesn’t sit right. 
 

“based on the information, we’ve concluded…” 

not closed. 
 

 

[Sod16]

There is undeniably a pretty high incidence of entitled sexual misconduct by professional athletes.  There is also a high incidence of targeting of professional athletes by individuals who are disreputable or otherwise lacking in credibility.  That dichotomy has to be a starting point for assessing these situations.

[Phil]

On 10/15/2022 at 10:30 PM, Pete said:

We can't let the default positive be to believe the accuser. Give them their due attention, consideration, but not absolution. 

 

Agreed. "Believe all women," is a terrible slogan. What it should be is "Take accusations seriously."

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

These cases are hard enough to prove as is and when there is a person of influence involved, it can be even harder. 

 

I don't think average NHLer Ian Cole is exactly a prime target for false accusations. And the accusation was done anonymously so its not like its someone looking for fame or whatever (which is usually a bullshit excuse anyway, name me any of the Bill Cosby accusers without looking it up) 

 

If the league took this accusation seriously, it would likely take more than a couple of days to settle this. 

[Keirik]

1 hour ago, BlairBettsBlocksEverything said:

These cases are hard enough to prove as is and when there is a person of influence involved, it can be even harder. 

 

I don't think average NHLer Ian Cole is exactly a prime target for false accusations. And the accusation was done anonymously so its not like its someone looking for fame or whatever (which is usually a bullshit excuse anyway, name me any of the Bill Cosby accusers without looking it up) 

 

If the league took this accusation seriously, it would likely take more than a couple of days to settle this. 

I’m not sure you can use that logic here. I get what you’re saying but no one knows WHY someone would be a target. Hell, it could be as simple as Cole dumped a psycho woman who wants to ruin his life. Or Cole slept with some dudes wife. Who knows. 
 

what exactly is the league supposed to do? This is a very slippery slope if they just start taking anonymous social media posts as concrete. hell it’s a very slippery slope just taking a large majority of topics as concrete from social media. 

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

 

39 minutes ago, Keirik said:

I’m not sure you can use that logic here. I get what you’re saying but no one knows WHY someone would be a target. Hell, it could be as simple as Cole dumped a psycho woman who wants to ruin his life. Or Cole slept with some dudes wife. Who knows. 
 

what exactly is the league supposed to do? This is a very slippery slope if they just start taking anonymous social media posts as concrete. hell it’s a very slippery slope just taking a large majority of topics as concrete from social media. 

 I don't think a few days is enough time to look into the validity of these claims. It's a bad look for the team and the league if this becomes something bigger and they continued employing/using a person who groomed and had sex with a minor

 

editz: I'll add this. If they found proof it was just a hoax and completely made up, fine, put him back in, sucks that it happened.

 

The NHLs statement is worded in a way though that doesn't show he didn't do it, just that the alleged victim didn't respond to them so they don't have proof it happened. This isn't the legal system, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply. If the extent of their investigation was to DM the alleged victim on twitter, not get a response (why would this person want to go to the NHL, which has a vested interest in this not being a story, with their statements) and then be done with it, then that's really not a good enough investigation, in my opinion at least 

Edited October 17, 2022 by BlairBettsBlocksEverything

[Morphinity 2.0]

34 minutes ago, BlairBettsBlocksEverything said:

 

 I don't think a few days is enough time to look into the validity of these claims. It's a bad look for the team and the league if this becomes something bigger and they continued employing/using a person who groomed and had sex with a minor

 

editz: I'll add this. If they found proof it was just a hoax and completely made up, fine, put him back in, sucks that it happened.

 

The NHLs statement is worded in a way though that doesn't show he didn't do it, just that the alleged victim didn't respond to them so they don't have proof it happened. This isn't the legal system, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply. If the extent of their investigation was to DM the alleged victim on twitter, not get a response (why would this person want to go to the NHL, which has a vested interest in this not being a story, with their statements) and then be done with it, then that's really not a good enough investigation, in my opinion at least 

The burden of proof is on the accuser - not Cole, not the NHL. "Prove to me this didn't happen"... doesn't work that way. It's nearly impossible to do that, especially with the vagueness of the accusation - details that cannot be cleared up unless the accuser cooperates. 

 

You're right. This isn't the legal system and "innocent until proven guilty" is not a guarantee. But it's a good place to start, especially when the accusation is made anonymously via Twitter seemingly out of the blue.

 

I don't know why you're hung up on "a few days". What timeframe would have been acceptable to you? They investigated what they could and, when they could go no further with their investigation, they called it. I don't know why they would continue to sit on Cole other than that it has slightly better optics.

 

 

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

15 minutes ago, Morphinity 2.0 said:

The burden of proof is on the accuser - not Cole, not the NHL. "Prove to me this didn't happen"... doesn't work that way. It's nearly impossible to do that, especially with the vagueness of the accusation - details that cannot be cleared up unless the accuser cooperates. 

 

You're right. This isn't the legal system and "innocent until proven guilty" is not a guarantee. But it's a good place to start, especially when the accusation is made anonymously via Twitter seemingly out of the blue.

 

I don't know why you're hung up on "a few days". What timeframe would have been acceptable to you? They investigated what they could and, when they could go no further with their investigation, they called it. I don't know why they would continue to sit on Cole other than that it has slightly better optics.

 

 

i mean it is poor optics. getting through it this quickly kinda sends the message that they didnt really take this accusation seriously. 

 

yeah the burden of proof is on the accuser. but these cases are insanely hard to ever prove. which is why abusers and people like that rarely ever are held accountable.

 

In the end, yeah i guess, its hard to continue a player's suspension forever when there isn't a legal case brought yet. I do hope that these accusations are taken more seriously by a more appropriate investigative body. I just think if the NHLs response to a player being accused of something so serious like this needs to be more than 'well we didnt hear back from the accuser on twitter so I guess there's nothing left to do here.' 

 

My point originally was that it was a bad look (optics). it will be WAY worse optics if/when this accusation goes further and the story becomes that the NHL knew a player was facing these accusations, did an "investigation" and let them continue to play anyway. 

[Phil]

21 minutes ago, BlairBettsBlocksEverything said:

i mean it is poor optics. getting through it this quickly kinda sends the message that they didnt really take this accusation seriously. 

 

yeah the burden of proof is on the accuser. but these cases are insanely hard to ever prove. which is why abusers and people like that rarely ever are held accountable.

 

In the end, yeah i guess, its hard to continue a player's suspension forever when there isn't a legal case brought yet. I do hope that these accusations are taken more seriously by a more appropriate investigative body. I just think if the NHLs response to a player being accused of something so serious like this needs to be more than 'well we didnt hear back from the accuser on twitter so I guess there's nothing left to do here.' 

 

My point originally was that it was a bad look (optics). it will be WAY worse optics if/when this accusation goes further and the story becomes that the NHL knew a player was facing these accusations, did an "investigation" and let them continue to play anyway. 

 

It doesn't. They suspended him pending an investigation and the account accusing him of abuse never responded. We have no idea if it's true or not, but what the fuck are they supposed to do — keep him suspended forever because an anonymous, unverified account decided to tweet this?

 

I just don't know what else the League is supposed to do here?

[Sod16]

Anonymous accuser who refuses to cooperate with an investigation.  Maybe everything she claimed was valid, but given the above, nothing can get done about it.

 

Like a lot of guys, I really didn't think there were a lot of psychos out there, until I found myself dating one.