Carson Briere is accused of throwing a woman’s wheelchair down the stairs

A tweet allegedly showing the Mercyhurst men’s ice hockey player began circulating on Twitter yesterday Carson BriereSon of former NHLer and current Philadelphia Flyer GM Daniel Briére and another unidentified man inexplicably throw an empty wheelchair down the steps of Sullivan’s Pub in Erie, Penn. Seconds later, wheelchairs down a floor, both men casually stroll into the pub, as nonchalantly as if they’d tossed a Solo red mug in the trash instead of throwing someone’s approach to the world down a flight of stairs.

Deadspin contacted the Mercyhurst sporting department last night but received no reply. This morning the school issued a statement almost confirming that one of the men was Briére.

Here’s the original tweet and explanation:

Julia Zukowski, who posted the original tweet thread, confirmed to Deadspin that the man in the white hat is Briére. Zukowski tweeted that the wheelchair was left at the top of the stairs because the woman using it (who wishes to remain anonymous) had to be carried downstairs to use the restrooms. So, not only did this woman have to deal with inaccessible toilets, she also had a bunch of assholes who threw her chair down the stairs for no apparent reason. A GoFundMe was founded to help women buy a new chair.

Deadspin also attempted to reach out to Briére for comment, but received no response before the story went public. However, Zukowski shared this direct message from Briére, which she received on Instagram shortly after the piece went viral:

At this point, I’m stopping you from emailing me your “boys will be boys!” Nonsense about guys not knowing why they wreck things, their brains aren’t fully developed blah blah blah. Carson Brière is not a child. He is a 24-year-old ice hockey player and has a father who works at the highest level of ice hockey. This is bullying, pure and simple. It goes without saying that the only reason a wheelchair would be left unattended in a public space is because 1) someone is using it, or 2) someone needs to use it. It’s like grabbing a wheelchair at the entrance to your grocery store and ramming it into a display full of canned corn. Idiotic. Awful. Absolutely indestructible.

According to Mercyhurst, the school is investigating. Deadspin reached out to the Erie Police Department to see if they were also looking into the matter, but at the time of publication, we hadn’t received a response.

Updated: After this story broke, Erie City Police Department Chief Dan Spizarney contacted Deadspin with the following statement: “We are aware of the incident, a report was recently made, we have opened an investigation but at this time we cannot comment further.”

We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available or if anyone decides to comment.