NHLer Ryan O'Reilly has been acquitted of impaired driving charges laid after a pick-up truck crashed into a Tim Hortons in Lucan last summer.
What was supposed to be a two-day trial at the London courthouse began on Monday. It ended abruptly less than two hours after its start with the Buffalo Sabres center being found not guilty of impaired driving, driving with over 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood, and failing to report a collision.
O’Reilly was all smiles coming out of the courthouse following the acquittal.
"I've always maintained my innocence, and the facts came forward today and I'm very pleased with the result,” O’Reilly says.
The pressure of the case has weighed heavily on O’Reilly, who says he's relieved it is over.
"It was difficult,” says O’Reilly. “Definitely, I feel like I let a lot of people down, just being associated with this situation, but I’m glad to put it behind me."
The case came to a screeching halt after the Crown's eyewitness was unable to place O'Reilly behind the wheel of the green Chevrolet pick-up that crashed into the Lucan coffee shop on July 9, 2015.
Defense lawyer Dave Humphrey found discrepancies in Tim Hortons employee, Mary Smith's statements about the incident. Smith claimed to have seen O’Reilly directly involved in the crash but cross-examination by Humphrey proved her statements to be inaccurate. The judge acquitted O’Reilly of all charges following a short recess.
Humphrey didn’t seem to be too surprised by the results, pointing out the Crown's case relied completely on a single-eyewitness' ability to identify the driver of the pick-up.
"I was always confident that the court would come to the conclusion that there was no reliable identification evidence," says Humphrey. "I was a little surprised at how glaringly obvious it was, frankly before I even got on my feet."
However, Smith, who was working at the time of the crash, remains confident about what she saw.
Outside of the courthouse, Smith told reporters "I know he was driving, he knows he was driving. Drunk driving isn't okay for anybody, no matter who you are."
The crash happened just a few days after the Clinton-area native signed a seven year, $52.5-million contract extension with Buffalo.
O’Reilly will return to play with the Sabres, and says he can now focus on training for next season.
**This story was written by Samuel Gallant. Samuel is a student in the Fanshawe College broadcast journalism program. He is performing a summer internship with Blackburn News.**
