I get people do dumb things when their drinking, but come on man…
A video was posted to Twitter which shows Carson Briere, a junior Center on Mercyhurst University’s hockey team, and son of the Philadelphia Flyers Interim General Manager and former player Daniel Briere, pushing a wheelchair down a flight of stairs at a bar.
Already, not a great look, but it gets worse when you hear the story of why the wheelchair was at the top of the stairs in the first place.
It belonged to a woman named Sydney Benes, a double amputee who was using the wheelchair to get around while getting used to prosthetic limbs.
Sydney is a regular at Sullivan’s Irish Pub in Erie, Pennsylvania and had to use the bathroom, which was on the first floor. The bar’s security manager, Nathaniel Sanders, carried her down the stairs and left the wheelchair on the small landing.
That’s when Carson and a group of friend’s made their way upstairs to the dance floor and things went downhill…
They noticed the chair and one of the guys sat in it for a brief second. When he stood up, Carson gave it a shove down the stairs, pieces of it falling of as it banged on the steps.
Take a look at the video here.
Not good at all…
Naturally, plenty of people were very worked up about this. Taking away the only way a disabled person can move around it really an awful thing.
It also wasn’t the first time his off-ice behavior caused a problem.
In 2021, he was dismissed from the Arizona State University team for violating team rules.
A GoFundMe was set up for Sydney, but she responded in a Tweet saying she won’t accept the money and will donate it to people who really need it.
“Hi I’m Sydney and it was my chair that was pushed down the stairs. I’m so thankful for all of Sullivan’s help in this situation… I swear I really don’t wanna keep a cent of the donated money, I’d much rather give it to those who need it.”
In a following Tweet, she said bar security, after watching the video, found Carson and made him apologize, but she said it didn’t come off like he actually meant it.
“Security had Carson come apologize but it was very insincere considering he followed it up with “Do I still have to go?” directed towards the bouncer.”
Mercyhurst University issued a statement on the incident.
A serious lack of judgment is one way to put it.
I hope this is finally the wake up call he seemingly needs…
