The number of former Chicago Blackhawks players alleging that former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted them has officially risen to two. After Kyle Beach came forward and shared his story of abuse from Aldrich, another anonymous player has come forward to share his story.
As the Chicago Tribune reported, a second player from the 2009-10 Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship team has alleged that Aldrich “groomed, harassed, threatened and assaulted” him that year. The former player has filed a suit against the team with the Chicago-based law firm Romanucci & Blandin as his representation.
The suit alleges that the Blackhawks had utter “indifference and/or conscious disregard for the safety of its employees, including John Doe”. They are seeking a jury trial in Chicago for this case.
“This is a continuation of the institutional and cultural abuses that we are seeing coming from our sports teams, whether they are local teams or from ones that are around the country,” Antonio Romanucci, who is representing John Doe, told the Tribune.”
He continued, “What we aim to do with this lawsuit is continue to ensure that teams remain accountable, we have a specific mission in mind, certainly that the Blackhawks remain accountable for the changes that they have promised that they have put in place with regard to prevention of these sexual abuses.”
The Blackhawks released a statement saying, “(the organization) takes allegations of workplace misconduct and organizational response very seriously, and it’s why, over two years ago, we commissioned an extensive independent investigation into the troubling events that occurred in 2010.”
It will be some time before this fully plays out and we may never know the identity of the second alleged victim. It is up to the player to decide whether he wants to go down the same route that Beach did.
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