The Buffalo Sabres have had an awful lot of off-ice issues over the past few offseasons, but as of today, there’s one less headache to worry about as Ryan O’Reilly had all charges against him dropped in his court case this morning.
No reasonable prospect of conviction. No more evidence
— Jane Sims (@JaneatLFPress) July 11, 2016
Last summer, O’Reilly’s truck was found smashed through the vestibule of a Tim Horton’s. The Sabres center was picked up along with a friend later that night, and blew a .08. Since he was arrested in Canada, he was charged with Driving While Ability Impaired, or DWAI, which is a much lighter charge than DUI or DWI in the States.
During his court case, to which he pled not guilty, the main point that could not be proved was whether O’Reilly was actually driving the truck. The key witness did not see anyone in the truck when they found it, and since this “mystery driver” could not be identified through hard evidence, the case was dismissed and the charges were dropped.
You can follow along with the trial thanks to the Twitter feed of Jane Sims, which include gems like this from the witness examinations.
She had texted her mom that “some dumb-ass tried to drive through TimHortons window and tried to leave.”
— Jane Sims (@JaneatLFPress) July 11, 2016
Regardless of how you view the outcome, I think we can all agree that O’Reilly did something very dumb, was very lucky that nobody was hurt, and hopefully never does anything like that again. Now, get back to hockey.
Update: This article incorrectly stated that O’Reilly was found not guilty, rather than having his charges dropped.