LONDON — It’s been a year since the death of American hockey player Adam Johnson, whose neck was fatally severed by an opponent’s skate during a match in Sheffield, England.
A man is still being investigated arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Thousands of fans witnessed the horrific clash last October 28 and there is video of it, but authorities have not yet announced a decision on whether to file charges.
There may be several explanations, from delays in digital forensic analyzes to weighing the potential difficulty in proving criminality for ‘on-the-ball’ incidents such as this.
Johnson and the Nottingham Panthers played the Sheffield Steelers in the Elite Ice Hockey League cup competition. The Steelers led 2-1 in the second period. Johnson, a forward who briefly played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, skated into the Sheffield defensive zone with the puck. As he turned to go inside, Steelers defenseman Matt Petgrave skated toward him. Petgrave had another Panthers player in front of him and appears to have made contact. Then Petgrave’s left skate goes up as the defender starts to fall and the blade hits Johnson in the neck.
Johnson, a 29-year-old Minnesota resident, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The Panthers had described it as a “freak accident.” On November 14, South Yorkshire Police arrested a man but did not release his name or age. The man was released on bail the next day and has been “re-bailed” several times – a formality as the investigation continues. In the British system, an arrest signals the start of an investigation; a decision on charges will follow thereafter.
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The police are trying to determine the ‘state of mind’ of the suspects. In addition to conducting interviews, that likely means examining phones or computers — which is time-consuming, even if defendants provide passwords, which they are not required to do.
“There are huge delays in the British criminal justice system. It takes a long time for cases to get to court,” criminal lawyer Quentin Hunt told The Associated Press.
A report published less than two years ago said there was a backlog of 25,000 devices waiting to be investigated.
“My cases are regularly delayed for up to a year due to delays in getting digital analytics back from devices,” Hunt said. “It is notorious within the British legal system why cases take longer to reach a charging decision.”
Lawyers point to a 2004 court ruling that overturned the conviction for ‘serious bodily harm’ of an amateur footballer who seriously injured an opponent with a tackle on the ball. It said criminal charges should be reserved for conduct that is “sufficiently serious.”
When deciding whether conduct reaches the criminal threshold, “it must be borne in mind that, in highly competitive sports, conduct that falls outside the rules can be expected in the heat of battle,” the ruling said. “The type of sport, the level at which it is practiced, the nature of the act, the degree of force used, the extent of the risk of injury and the state of mind of the suspect are all likely to be relevant in determining whether the actions of the suspect go beyond the threshold.”
Persecutions are more common in ‘off-the-ball’ scenarios, such as hitting, biting or head-butting.
An on-the-ball case that left a rugby player partially paralyzed was heard in civil court. Natasha King was not criminally charged despite dropping her body weight on Dani Czernuszka-Watts, who was in a vulnerable position as she was about to pick up the ball in a 2017 match.
Czernuszka-Watts won her civil suit in which a former referee testified after watching a video of the match that in his 60 years of rugby he had “never witnessed such a reckless incident”. The civil judge ruled that King acted out of revenge he had built up earlier in the match.
“In contrast to these characteristics, the fact that the incident would likely be considered ‘on the ball’ may have saved the injured player from concurrent criminal prosecution,” attorney Henry Goldschmidt wrote in his analysis of criminal liability in sports.
Petgrave’s collision with Johnson was clearly “on the ball” because Johnson had the puck on his stick.
An incident at a hockey game in December 1995 led to a charge of grievous bodily harm against Nicky Chinn, who played for the Steelers and was accused of deliberately using his stick to injure an opponent’s eye. A jury found him not guilty.
The case is likely an involuntary manslaughter investigation where “there must be an unlawful act or omission,” Hunt said, but prosecutors do not have to prove intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm.
Gross negligence manslaughter is still involuntary, but more complicated: “You owe a duty of care to someone else, and you are negligent in your conduct and that leads to death as a result of your negligence,” Hunt added.
Voluntary manslaughter is more like a charge of murder with manifest intent to kill. The fact that Johnson was not wearing a neck protector could be legally significant.
“Given that it is not for him (the man under arrest) to determine whether the other player was wearing a neck protector or not, it will, I think, be quite difficult for the prosecution to prove to the required standard that he should be held criminally liable,” Hunt said.
A week before an arrest was made, South Yorkshire coroner Tanyka Rawden released a report into the prevention of future deaths, urging that Neck protectors are mandatory for all hockey players.
“In due course the inquest will consider whether the use of a neck brace or protector could have prevented Mr Johnson’s death. However, at this stage of my research I am sufficiently concerned that deaths may occur in the future if neck gaiters or protectors are not used. worn out,” Rawden wrote.
The coroner’s investigation was suspended in January, a procedural step because the police investigation was still ongoing.
There has been discussion about player protection. The British top flight made neck protectors mandatory on January 1, two months after Johnson’s death.
The next important date is November 11, when the arrested man is due to be released on bail again. Petgrave, a 32-year-old Canadian, has made no public statements and his agent declined to comment. The police also do not want to comment.
Teams across the league began recognizing the one-year milestone by clapping for 47 seconds before games this weekend.
The Panthers plan to hold a retirement ceremony for Johnson’s No. 47 on Dec. 14.
Note: The video shown is from May 17, 2024.
