TMZ is reporting that Rangers LW Sean Avery was arrested at his home in Hollywood Hills early this morning and has been charged with battery of a police officer after shoving a cop who responded to a complaint from one of Avery's neighbors that music coming from a party Avery was throwing was too loud. According to TMZ, Avery shoved a police officer when they arrived, called them "fat little pigs" and told the officers he would fight all of them if they would "come back without your badges." Avery then slammed the door on the police and only reopened it after police threatened to break his door down if he didn't. Apparently, Avery cooperated with law officials after that and was arrested at 2:30 a.m. before being released on $20,000 bail at 8:10 a.m.
Avery has a court date scheduled for Sept. 2, in which he faces charges for a misdemeanor.
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TMZ has also posted a video of Sean Avery leaving jail this morning that you can view here.
According to Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News, "the Rangers say that they are aware of the situation, and will discuss it with Avery, but will not be commenting on it at this time."
Obviously, this is not a good situation at all for Sean Avery to put himself in. No matter what the circumstances were, there is no excuse for putting your hands on a police officer and Avery had to know it was a stupid decision on his part. I haven't read anything about whether Avery was drinking, so I'm assuming alcohol wasn't a factor. I'm sure the Rangers will gather all of the information on the situation before deciding on what to do with Avery going forward, and it's possible the NHL may also get involved and issue a fine and/or suspension given Avery's past incidents on and off the ice.
It'll be interesting to see what the Rangers will do with Avery. Glen Sather and Jim Dolan have been Avery's two biggest supporters in the Rangers organization, while John Tortorella really has never been an Avery fan. The bottom line is that this is bad publicity for the Rangers organization and the league as a whole. Being that Sean Avery is one of my favorite players, I really hope the Rangers don't release him but I don't think it's completely out of the question either. Avery's roster spot was already very much in question heading into camp before this incident, so it's hard to say. Avery has managed to be on his best behavior since his suspension with Dallas, but there's simply no excuse for this slip up.
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