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A GoFundMe page was created after Mercyhurst Hockey player Carson Briere pushed an empty wheelchair down the stairs at a nightclub on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
The act was captured in a short video clip which was shared by Julia Zukowski on Tuesday, March 14 on Twitter. Julia tweeted that something happened on Saturday, and she couldn't stomach the thought of the person getting away with it.
In her tweet, Julia disclosed the identity of the person who pushed the wheelchair and said that it was Carson Briere from Mercyhurst University's hockey team.
She also created a GoFundMe to help raise money for the person whose chair Carson pushed and damaged. She launched the fundraiser on March 15, with a goal of $1500 and at the time of writing this article, it had raised $8453.
When someone called Carson Briere's act a “minor mistake”, actor Dileep Rao said that it wasn't a "minor mistake." Rao added:
“He's 23, cruel in a casual way and destroyed a very expensive piece of someone’s crucial mobility.”
Social media users call out Carson Briere's behavior on Twitter
Netizens were outraged at Carson’s behavior and brutally criticized the junior hockey player. While some called out the hockey team's decision to untag the player from all the tweets, others asked people to stop making excuses for Carson's entitlement.
Carson Briere is the son of former NHL player Daniel Briere
Carson Briere's father, Daniel Briere, is a former NHL player who became the interim general manager for the Philadelphia Flyers a few days ago. Both Daniel and Carson sent their apologies after local police investigated Carson for pushing a disabled woman’s wheelchair off the stairs at a nightclub on Saturday.
Carson Briere sent his statement to DailyMail.com via the Philadelphia Flyers and said that he was "deeply sorry" for his behavior. Noting that there was no excuse for what he did, the hockey player added that he would do whatever he can to "make up for this serious lack of judgment.”
Daniel Briere also offered his own apology statement and said that he was shocked to see his son’s actions in the video shared on Twitter. Daniel called Carson Briere's actions inexcusable and noted that they ran contradictory to their family’s values of respecting people.
He added:
“Carson is very sorry and accepts full responsibility for his behavior.”
The 23-year-old student is currently a junior playing for the hockey team at Pennsylvania’s Mercyhurst University. He was previously dismissed from the hockey team at Arizona State University for violating team rules in 2019 and was given a second chance at Mercyhurst.
Julia Zukowski, who shared the video on Twitter, said that she personally knows the person who owns the wheelchair. She added that the person prefers to remain anonymous until legal action can be taken.
Julia added that the woman whose wheelchair was pushed had left it at the top of the stairs as she had to be carried down physically to use the restrooms. The restrooms were located downstairs.
Mercyhurst University shared its statement in reply to the video on Twitter hours after the backlash. It stated that the university was aware of the video which showed one of their student-athletes pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down the stairs of a local establishment. However, it seems that the university later deleted the response and shared a separate statement from their Twitter account.
The university said:
"The actions displayed in the video make our hearts heavy and fall short of our Mercy belief in the inherent dignity of each person. We pray for and are in solidarity with the victim and all persons with disabilities who rightfully find actions like this to be deeply offensive."
The Department of Police and Safety and the Office of Student Conduct were investigating the matter.
Mercyhurst police said that the Erie Police Department took over the investigation. Anthony Talarico, Erie Police Captain, confirmed that the investigation had begun but did not have any further comment on the matter.
