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Former Arizona Coyotes player assaulted in Scottsdale
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Former Arizona Coyotes player, podcaster and TNT hockey analyst, Paul Bissonnette, was assaulted by six men at a Scottsdale restaurant on Sunday night, the police department said.
The Nov. 24 assault happened at Houston’s restaurant near McDonald Drive and Scottsdale Road around 7:30 p.m.
"There was an altercation inside the restaurant with six adult men and the management. Reportedly, Paul Bissonnette tried to help management calm the men and get them to leave. The situation escalated to the men assaulting Paul Bissonnette both inside and outside of the restaurant," Scottsdale Police Sgt. Allison Sempsis said.
Bissonnette, for his part, talked about the attack on Barstool Sports' hockey podcast Spittin' Chiclets.
"I said ‘listen guy, if you keep harassing and assaulting the staff, we’re going to go outside and have some problems.’ The minute that left my mouth, the guys starts swinging, and the next thing you know, four guys start swinging at me," said Bissonnette, during the podcast episode. "I ate three kicks: one in the neck two in the head. Was able to get up, and at this point now, I have no shoes on. I got my pants, no shirt. I’m finally able to run into CVS, and they didn’t come into CVS. Thankfully, the cops were called right away."
As for Bissonnette's injuries, Scottsdale Police did not detail the severity, but did say they're not believed to be life-threatening. Bissonnette did say he was pretty banged up, and kept backing up to avoid falling to the ground and getting a beatdown that could have resulted in more injuries.
We called Houston's and spoke to a manager, who said they did not want to comment at this time.
Suspects identified
Clockwise from top left: Danny Bradley, John G. Carroll, William J. Carroll, Sean Daley, Edward Jennings, and Henry Mesker. (Courtesy: Scottsdale Police Department)
The six men were arrested and are accused of assault and disorderly conduct. Five of them are facing misdemeanors and the sixth is facing a felony.
On Nov. 26, police identified the suspects:
- Danny Bradley, accused of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct
- John Carroll, accused of misdemeanor disorderly conduct
- William Carroll, accused of two counts of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct
- Sean Daley, accused of felony aggravated assault, felony forgery and misdemeanor disorderly conduct
- Edward Jennings, accused of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct
- Henry Mesker, accused of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct
Allegations of forgery against Daley reportedly involve a military identification card that appeared to be fraudulent. The card was allegedly found in Daley's wallet.
Bissonnette played for the Arizona Coyotes from 2009 to 2014. The former NHL team left Arizona due to management issues and now plays in Salt Lake City as the Utah Hockey Club.
Bissonnette speaks out about the incident
On X, Barstool President Dave Portnoy shared a text exchange with Bissonnette in which he says he was attacked by seven men, adding that he "took some but gave more."
FOX 10 reached out to Bissonnette and his rep – the former NHL-er did not want to interview. However, he posted a video to X on Nov. 25 talking a little bit about what happened.
"What's up, gang? I just wanted to pop by because the news is out there, and I'm getting a lot of texts and calls. Love you guys, thank you guys all for reaching out and checking in," Bissonnette said. "I just wanted to address what happened last night so you hear it from my mouth. I don't know what's kind of, I know there's a few articles that came out, and news is floating around."
He says the full story will be told on a Spittin' Chiclets podcast episode on Nov. 26 because Monday just so happened to be a recording day.
"To be quite frank, it was kind of nice to hop on with the boys and have some laughs and forget about it for four hours," he said.
He did give a recap about what happened, saying he goes to Houston's restaurant three to four times a week. He didn't stop short of complementing the staff and food.
"The bar where I normally sit was packed. I sat in the dining area, and at one point, there was a bit of a ruckus going on in the bar. It was a bunch of drunk golfers. Things obviously continued to escalate. They asked one guy to leave, and then one guy kept getting in the manager's face, put his hands on 'em," Bissonnette said.
That went on for at least 30 seconds before the former NHL-er intervened. He says he grabbed the guy's arm that was on the manager and said, "Sir, if you continue to harass and assault the staff, we're going to have problems. They just started chuckin'."
He says the incident escalated quickly, ending in a CVS parking lot.
"Got taken down a couple times," he said. "Luckily, didn't get knocked out. I did go to the hospital, so that's probably what everybody is reading about."
He calls the suspects "bad dudes" who were "way too drunk." He says he's angry and wants the suspects' names to be released.
"Unacceptable behavior at a family restaurant just because they couldn't grab another cocktail and didn't want to hear ‘no' for an answer," he continued.
He says he wants to thank the staff at the restaurant, Scottsdale Police officers, paramedics and hospital staff.
"All is good guys, it sucks," he said. "Could have been a lot worse."
Although Bissonnette says there were seven men involved in the fight, Scottsdale PD maintains there were six.