Canadian authorities have found and arrested the man who who threw a banana at Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds in a preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings. The ugly racist incident took place at the Labatt Centre in London, Ontario as the two teams were playing an exhibition there.
Chris Moorhouse, 26, of London, Ontario, was served a summons for engaging in a prohibited activity under the provincial trespassing act, police say. If convicted, he faces a fine of up to $2,000.
It’s one of those legally ambiguous situations where obviously it’s awful to do what he did, but hard to necessarily know what crime this guy committed. It’s important to remember that this happened in Canada, so I’m not entirely sure what their laws are as far as hate crimes and the like.
Obviously it’s not ok to throw things on the ice and even worse when it is racially motivated, but the latter part is obviously difficult to prove. Although, why else would the guy throw a banana at the only black player on the ice? Either way, it s just to see the guy pay in some way for doing something so disgusting and acting the way he did. If anything, the shame of everyone knowing who he is will be much worse than the small fine he could end up paying.