A video of former NHL player Alex Galchenyuk threatening cops after his arrest has gone viral.
This summer, Galchenyuk signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1. On July 9, Galchenyuk was arrested on multiple charges.
Then, on July 13, he was placed on unconditional waivers by the Coyotes for the purpose of terminating his contract. Arizona released a vague statement:
“We are aware of the incident involving Alex Galchenyuk and strongly condemn this type of behavior. Once the Club was made aware of the allegations, we immediately began the process of terminating his Standard Player’s Contract through the proper channels in conjunction with the National Hockey League.
"As a result, the Arizona Coyotes today have exercised the team’s right to terminate the contract of Alex Galchenyuk due to a material breach of the terms of his Standard Player’s Contract. The Club will have no further comment at this time.”
After Galchenyuk was waived, he entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program but did not get another offer. He ended up signing in Russia in the KHL. Now, months later, the body cam footage of the arrest was released, and it showed Galchenyuk saying several swear words and racist words while also threatening the cop.
During part of Alex Galchenyuk's rant, he's heard saying the following and threatening the African-American officer.
"You know the Russians will make bolognese out of you, (racist word), Galchenyuk says in the video. "One f***ing phone call and you’ll never see your family and how scary is that?
"Holy f***, one phone call and you’re dead. Your whole f***ing bloodline is dead. All your f***ing kids all your f***ing wives all your f***ing daughters will f***ing die. I’ll make sure of that."
Galchenyuk went at the officer for well over two minutes, and it was full of threats and profanity.
According to reports, police were called after Alex Galchenyuk was driving erratically and crashed into a parking lot sign and then a parked car. He was arrested on charges of private property hit-and-run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest and threatening or intimidating.
However, the former NHL player pleaded guilty to one count of threatening, and the other charges were dismissed. He ended up spending two days in jail and had to complete an alcohol treatment program in exchange for not getting more jail time, as well as paying a fine of $563.
Alex Galchenyuk's NHL career
Alex Galchenyuk was drafted third overall in 2012 by the Montreal Canadiens.
Galchenyuk spent his first six years in Montreal before bouncing around NHL teams. He spent the next five seasons between six NHL teams and had two stints with the Arizona Coyotes.
Galchenyuk ended up skating in 654 NHL games and recorded 354 points.