The Erie County District Attorney said Tuesday morning that criminal charges will not be pressed against the former Buffalo Sabres player-turned-youth hockey coach who was involved in a fight during a weekend game at HarborCenter.
Andrew Peters, who was best known for his role as an on-ice enforcer during his professional playing career, was coaching the Buffalo Junior Sabres 15U team during a weekend game. A fight broke out on the ice and found its way toward the Buffalo bench. In a video that was posted on YouTube (Warning: the video contains vulgar language), Peters could be seen handling one of the opponents' players amidst the scrum.
Erie County DA John Flynn said that player was not hurt and added that his parents have opted not to press charges. For that reason, he too will not seek charges.
"The parents told Buffalo Police that they were adamant that they did not want any charges to be filed at all," he said. "When I got in the office on Monday morning, I wanted to confirm that. Our office reached out to the parents as well, just to make sure that they wanted to press charges at all and that their son was not hurt. They confirmed that."
Flynn told WBFO he watched the video closely, even using a magnifying glass to observe the moment Peters made contact with the teenager. He stated that he observed Peters pushing the player, not punching him. Had it been a punch, Flynn says he would pursue charges. Under the circumstances, the DA explained, he'd most likely pursue a charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
"I'm not condoning what happened. It was a good hard push," Flynn said. "But the fact of the matter is he didn't get hurt. The kid had a helmet on, so basically he pushed his helmet. And the parents though that it needed to end right there. I respect the parents' decision so I'm not going forward."
Peters remains suspended by the Junior Sabres organization. Flynn said while there's no criminal case, Peters certainly crossed the line.
"He should face some consequences here," Flynn said. "What he did was inappropriate."
