The article mentions sexual assault. Please read with caution.
In 2015, Chicago Black Hawks right winger Patrick Kane was accused of sexual assault. Here are details from the case and why charges against the NHL star were dropped.
According to Bleacher Report, Kane, who was then 26, was in Buffalo, New York, when he allegedly raped a woman he just met at his home near Buffalo late one night. The Kane accusations were controversial, as DNA evidence failed to support what she said happened. She did, however, have visible bite marks and scratches on her body.
The woman’s lawyer said the rape kit may have been tampered with, but he later backtracked on those statements and even fired the plaintiff as a client, claiming he was misled. Kane denied the allegations, and in Sept. 2015, hockey journalist Frank Seravalli tweeted Kane’s comment on the case:
Amid the investigation, Kane’s career took a hit, but controversially, he was never suspended.
The Kane accuser received massive public scrutiny
While the investigation was ongoing, the accuser in the Patrick Kane case was threatened on social media, especially among Chicago Blackhawks fans, who claimed to have revealed her identity and even said they knew where she lived. Kane, meanwhile, refused to speak to the police, but according to Erie County prosecutor Frank Sedita III, he made no known incriminating statements or behaved in any way that would suggest guilt, The Guardian reported.
According to The Guardian, evidence also suggests that the mother of the accuser may have been involved in the accusations, and that she may have orchestrated a hoax related to the rape kit.
Patrick Kane’s 2015 charges were dropped for lack of evidence
By Nov. 15 that year, the charges against Patrick Kane were dropped for lack of evidence. By that point, the accuser, who was also in her 20s, said she would no longer cooperate with the investigation over the “tremendous stress” the investigation caused for her and her family. She also reportedly signed a “non-prosecution affidavit” before the case was dismissed.
When the decision to drop charges was announced, prosecutor Frank Sedita III said, “The totality of the credible evidence — the proof — does not sufficiently substantiate the complainant’s allegation that she was raped by Patrick Kane and this so-called ‘case’ is rife with reasonable doubt.”
Born in Buffalo, Kane played for the Chicago Blackhawks for 16 years before he was traded to the New York Rangers. In the 2024 season, Kane played for the Detroit Red Wings and faced his old team, the Blackhawks, for the first time since he left.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.