THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — A man who says he was wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey when he was punched in the face by Toronto Maple Leaf centre Mikhail Grabovski has filed a civil suit against the player.
Dylan Richardson and his wife Brenna allege in the suit they were assaulted by Grabovski in a brawl in Vancouver during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
In the B.C. Supreme Court suit, filed Sept. 14, the Richardsons lay out a long list of injuries to Dylan.
The suit claimed Dylan Richardson, an autobody finishing technician in nearby Langley, B.C., was in downtown Vancouver on Feb. 20 when Grabovski punched him in the face.
Richardson lost consciousness and fell to the ground, the suit alleged.
"Immediately after striking the plaintiff Dylan Richardson with the intent to further humiliate and denigrate (him), the defendant assaulted and committed a battery on the plaintiff Brenna Richardson by punching (her) in the face," the court document said.
The suit alleged Dylan Richardson has suffered a head injury, multiple facial fractures requiring reconstructive surgery, a back injury, trauma to his mouth, teeth and eyes, memory loss, a change in personality and ongoing headaches, among other things.
The Richardsons are seeking damages for lost income and health-care costs, as well as punitive damages.
Grabovski, who was attending the Olympics with the Belarus hockey team, was arrested by Vancouver police after the confrontation, but never charged.
At the time of the arrest, Grabovski had a broken wrist and wasn’t playing. Leafs GM Brian Burke called the alleged altercation "minor."
Vancouver Police Const. Lindsey Houghton said Monday police didn’t lay charges because there was no likelihood of conviction against anyone.
"There was no reasonable grounds to believe that any one person committed an offence, so unfortunately there was nothing they could forward to Crown counsel," Houghton said.
Houghton said the brawl involved more than a dozen people, most of them drunk.
He said the final police report on the brawl was more than 100 pages long.
The lawsuit contains allegations that have never been proven in court.
