Tampa Bay Lightning Suspend Ian Cole For Sexual Assault Claims
Ian Cole, who has been in the NHL for 13 seasons and has won the Stanley Cup twice, has been suspended while the league investigates accusations of sexual assault. The claims which came from Twitter, accuse the defenseman of abusing the victim for years, starting when she was an underage high school student. The used also claims that there was at least one more teenage victim.
The post read, “Ian felt emboldened to emotionally and sexually abuse me and other women because the NHL fosters a culture of misogyny. The NHL needs to hold themselves and their players accountable for creating and enabling an environment of misogynistic and predatory behavior.”
The Lightning said that they are cooperating fully with the NHL and their investigation, and would suspend Cole until they finish looking into the accusations. The NHL said that they had no prior knowledge of any accusations against Cole.
The Twitter user who only had one other tweet before posting the accusations on Friday, said that Cole was fully aware of her being underage. The tweet stated that she felt pressure to have sex with Cole, and that the experience “could never of been consensual”.
The Lightning issued a statement which read, “Our organization takes these allegations very seriously. While we continue to gather more details, we have decided to suspend Ian Cole pending the results of an investigation.”
