Reports that Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby was arrested on a driving-related charge were debunked this morning by the Ottawa Police Department, who called the charges an “out and out blatant lie.”
Early this morning, at about 4 a.m., both the Toronto Sun and Ottawa Sun released separate reports on Crosby’s arrest, both of which have since been deleted. According to the latter publication’s report, Crosby “was arrested by Ottawa police late Tuesday while driving a rented Porsche,” though there were no details into the nature of the driving-related charge. Further, the Sun claimed Crosby was taken in for routine procedures, and that it wasn’t clear at the time of the report why the Penguins captain was in Ottawa.
However, police officials are now saying that there was no such arrest that took place last night. Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau said via Twitter this morning that the department had “no dealings with Mr. Crosby.” He also told CTV News that Crosby “never came in” and was never placed in a cell, contrary to what was reported. Further backing up Bordeleau’s statements, TSN followed with its own report, saying that Crosby was nowhere near Ottawa, but rather training in Vail, Colo. with other NHL stars.
With the embarrassing reports now deleted and Crosby’s good name cleared, some have wondered whether the reports came about as a result of miscommunication. Sharing his opinion on the matter, Yahoo Sports’ Greg Wyshinski theorized that QMI Agency, the original source of the news of the supposed Crosby arrest, had misheard “out in Vail” as “Ottawa jail.” Judging by the slight similarity in the two phrases, that may have indeed been the case, now that one of the more embarrassing errors in sports reporting has now come to pass.