SerpApi.Org
A police document includes new details about what led to the arrest of the Florida Panthers equipment manager in a reported domestic violence incident in Coral Springs.
Thaddeus Richards, 43, is accused of hitting his wife during an argument following a birthday party at the couple’s house on Thursday, July 16. He’s charged with domestic battery and depriving of 911 services, Broward County court records show.
Richards has been the equipment manager for the hockey team for about 10 years and also acted in that position for Team USA at this year’s Winter Olympics, according to the Miami Herald
According to Richards’ wife, after their guests left the party that night, she accused her husband of flirting with another person at the party, according to the probable cause affidavit.
She told officers she threw water at him, angering him, then her husband pushed her “against the wall before hitting her multiple times with both hands on her face and top of her head,” police wrote.
She threatened to call the police, but Richards took her phone to prevent her from doing so, she said. She told police she used his phone to call 911.
Police didn’t notice any obvious injuries on her, but when they looked around the house, they noted “broken glass and signs of a struggle in both the living room and bathroom.” The couple’s two kids were sleeping during the altercation, officers said.
Richards’ wife said she didn’t want to press charges, but investigators believed they had probable cause to arrest him. He was taken into custody shortly after midnight on Friday, July 17, and booked in Broward’s Mail Jail.
In a statement Friday, the Panthers said they had been “made aware of an incident involving the arrest of Equipment Manager Teddy Richards” and that Richards was suspended from all team activities and facilities “pending investigation.”
Court records don’t include an attorney for Richards.
