Bodycam Footage Shows NHL Assistant Saying He Used To Coach Florida Panthers To Unimpressed Cops During DUI Arrest
Ex-NHLer and current New Jersey Devils associate coach Andrew Brunette was arrested and charged with driving his golf cart under the influence of alcohol earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Miami sports radio host Andy Slater obtained bodycam video of Brunette's arrest.
The incident took place in Deerfield Beach, Florida according to Miami TV station WPLG Local 10, and the video picks up with deputies pulling Brunette over in his golf cart after he allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign.
In the video, Brunette claims to have not been driving the golf cart. After some discussion of how many beers the coach had consumed, deputies asked him to perform a field sobriety test. However, during the test, he began to walk away while saying he was going to call his lawyer. That's when things got physical.
The Deputies Must Not Have Been Panthers Fans
Toward the end of the video, Brunette tried to drop a variant of the "Don't you know who I am?" card. You see, just one year earlier, he was coaching the Florida Panthers and led them to a Presidents' Trophy. The Cats play their home games in Sunrise, Florida. It stands to reason that they may have known who he was.
Brunette busted out a "You know I coached the Florida Panthers?" which was met with crickets.
Maybe none of those deputies were big about hockey fans, but he may as well have told them he brushed his teeth that morning because that's about how much they cared about this tidbit of info.
Brunette was arrested, booked, but then bonded out of jail.
Slater also tweeted a comment from Brunette's lawyer.
Despite leading the Panthers to the NHL's best record during the 2021-22 season, the team replaced him with current head coach Paul Maurice.
Brunette then joined the Devils coaching staff under head coach Lindy Ruff. The Devils open their first-round series against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night at home.
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