{"id":1683093,"date":"2022-10-11T08:53:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1683093"},"modified":"2022-10-11T08:56:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:56:29","slug":"lightning-defenseman-ian-cole-suspended-for-allegedly-sexually-abusing-and-grooming-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lightning-defenseman-ian-cole-suspended-for-allegedly-sexually-abusing-and-grooming-minor\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Defenseman Ian Cole Suspended for Allegedly Sexually Abusing and Grooming Minor"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flightning-defenseman-ian-cole-suspended-for-allegedly-sexually-abusing-and-grooming-minor%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1683093&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The\u00a0Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0on Sunday suspended defenseman Ian Cole after he was accused on social media of grooming and sexually abusing a woman when she was a minor.<\/p>\n<p>The Lightning said the team was fully cooperating with the\u00a0NHL in an investigation\u00a0and is making the decision to suspend Cole as it gathers more details.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Tampa Bay Lightning is aware of the allegations against player Ian Cole and are cooperating fully with the NHL on an investigation,\u201d the Lightning said in a statement. \u201cOur organization takes these allegations very seriously.\u00a0While we continue to gather more details, we have decided to suspend Ian Cole pending the results of an investigation. No members of the organization, including players, will comment further at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The allegations were <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/emily_smith3333\/status\/1578464079324205057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1578464079324205057%7Ctwgr%5E870156c316b858d3a16e2059feca6d14f6c35a98%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fsports%2Flightning-suspend-ian-cole-defenseman-faces-accusations-of-sexual-abuse-grooming-woman-she-minor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0by a user identified as Emily Smith. The Twitter user posted a lengthy statement. The tweet was sent on Friday. The user only has one tweet on the account.<\/p>\n<p>The statement details Smith\u2019s alleged encounter with Cole when she was in high school, and he had been \u201cplaying<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/05\/2022-23-nhl-season-preview-and-analysis-trends-to-target\/\"> in the NHL<\/a> for a few years at that point.\u201d Smith wrote Cole was \u201cvery well aware\u201d of how old she was and said she felt pressured into having sex with him. The statement details times when Cole allegedly made \u201cderogatory and misogynistic comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith claimed Cole \u201cbragged\u201d to one of his teammates about \u201csexually assaulting me as a minor the first night we first met.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/ian-cole.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption>The Tampa Bay Lightning suspended defenseman Ian Cole after he was accused of grooming and sexually abusing a woman when she was a minor.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Chris O&#8217;Meara<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIan felt emboldened to emotionally and sexually abuse me and other women because the NHL fosters a culture of misogyny,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThe NHL needs to hold themselves and their players accountable for creating an enabling environment of misogynistic and predator behavior. Those who defend his character are the ones who have enabled him to do this for so long, and know very well of his abusive behavior toward women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who truly knows Ian and the way he talks about women will not be surprised by any of this. Coming forward as a victim of grooming and abuse is extremely difficult. It\u2019s easy to have shame and blame yourself, that you <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/07\/06\/nhl-schedule-rangers-open-next-season-at-home-vs-lightning\/\">should\u2019ve known better<\/a>, but then I remember that I was taken advantage of as a minor by a fully grown adult man. As a teen, I didn\u2019t even know what grooming was. When you\u2019re young and this happens to you, you don\u2019t realize you are a victim.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I got older and built self esteem, I started to fully understand the extent of what happened to me and that this could never have been consensual. I don\u2019t think Ian ever expected me to have the courage to speak out. It is painful to have to relive it, but I hope that this encourages more people to speak out about their own experiences of grooming and abuse. And I am truly proud of myself that I am finally able to have the courage to come forward with the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1240969617-e1665367410164.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1240969617.jpg\" alt=\"Ian Cole #28 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates the puck along the blue line during the second period of a game against the New York Rangers in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 28, 2022 in New York City.\" class=\"wp-image-24185749\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Cole allegedly met the minor when she was in high school.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Photo by Jared Silber\/NHLI via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cole, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, played for the St. Louis Blues from 2010 to 2014, when he was traded to the\u00a0Pittsburgh Penguins. He played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricanes before joining the Lightning in the offseason.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s won <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/06\/30\/nhl-rises-where-other-sports-leagues-are-crumbling\/\">the Stanley Cup twice<\/a> in his career.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p>The accuser didn\u2019t specify when or where <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/07\/03\/ryan-mcdonagh-traded-by-lightning-to-predators-in-salary-dump\/\">the alleged assaults<\/a> took place.<\/p>\n<p>Cole hasn\u2019t responded to the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press the league had launched an investigation. Daly said the league had no prior knowledge of the allegations\u00a0until they surfaced on social media.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0on Sunday suspended defenseman Ian Cole after he was accused on social media of grooming and sexually abusing a woman when she was a minor. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1683095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1683095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}