Slava Voynov arrest details from police; lawyer says no charges filed

BY JOSH COOPER

Earlier today the NHL suspended Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov indefinitely for an arrest on domestic violence suspicion.

It was only a matter of hours before more details came out on the situation. Rich Hammond of the Orange County Register has them from Lt. Joe Hoffman of the Redondo Beach, Calif., police department.

These all come from Hammond’s blog on the Orange County Register website. The first part is Hoffman’s statement, followed by a few pertinent follow up questions by Hammond.

``Last night, at around 11:25 p.m., the Redondo Beach Police Department received a call on our business line -- not our 911 line -- from a resident in the 800 block of Avenue C, concerning a woman screaming and heard crying …” 

``… A short time after that, at around 1 a.m. this morning, the Redondo Beach Police Department received a call from the Torrance Police Department concerning an adult female that was at Little Company of Mary hospital with an injury that was possibly in need of law enforcement. The injury possibly being the result of a crime was what prompted a law-enforcement response, and that possibly the crime had been committed in the city of Redondo Beach.

``Redondo Beach police officers responded to the hospital and made contact with the victim at the hospital and determined that a crime of domestic violence did, in fact, occur in the city of Redondo Beach. The suspect in this crime was also present at the hospital and was taken into custody at the hospital and transported to the Redondo Beach Police Department. The suspect was booked on a charge of 273.5 of the California Penal Code and was held on $50,000 bail. He subsequently bailed out around 9 a.m.’’

Police said they've been unable to determine if Voynov drove the alleged victim to the hospital. Due to privacy considerations under domestic violence law, her name was not released; police said her injuries were significant enough to require care at the hospital.

It should also be noted that Hammond got a statement from Voynov’s attorney Craig Renetzky who said no charges have been filed, though he confirmed the arrest.

With domestic violence being such a hot-button issue in sports, considering the NFL’s Ray Rice problem amongst others, the NHL’s highly proactive push on Voynov is interesting.

From deputy commissioner Bill Daly to The Hockey News comparing this case to Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov’s arrest last year on domestic assault charges:

“I think the landscape has changed for all of us over the past six months,” Daly said. “But that’s not the only reason for the difference in treatment. Circumstances were different in Varlamov. I can’t get more specific than that.”

Not only did the league break this news, the Kings have already released a statement supporting the league, saying:

“These developments are of great concern to our organization.  We support the NHL’s decision to suspend Slava Voynov indefinitely during this process, and we will continue to take appropriate action as the legal proceedings and the investigation by the NHL take their course,”

There will obviously be more information as the story continues – extent of the injuries and such that we just don’t know at the moment. And when that happens, the story will take on a new and different course.

But in regards to the NFL comparison, the Rice situation spun out of control in part because the NFL did not publicize the info on it as quickly as possible and had a lack of transparency. At least so far with Voynov, so far, the NHL and the Kings have seemingly been right on top of it.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaCooper.