The first situation though, was anything BUT cut and dry. This, more recent accusation, is clearly bandwagoning and piling on, and deserves to be shut down and put away for good, but it has nothing to do with the original case at all (in fact, this whole thing reeks of a concocted throwaway cover story, to make it seem like he never did anything wrong in the first place, and is just another rich victim of crazy accusations).

I am from Buffalo, and grew up just a few blocks from Pat Kane's family on McKinley Pkwy in South Buffalo, and I can tell you that all of the original allegations are very much unsettled and should not be lumped in with this looney tune.

I love the kid, and want to see him do well ... he is a remarkable hockey player and could be one of the best to ever lace up some skates, but if he thinks that his success as an athlete allows him to treat women as objects and get away with whatever, then I would be the first to say that he is just another fool blinded by his prowess.

The original accusation was widely regarded as possible, if not even likely, and the whole case was handled in such a way in Buffalo that it made him and his defense team seem all the more guilty of 'gaming the system' rather than playing it straight and beating any charges (which were never even brought against him, in an affluenza scented investigation).

I have no idea what actually occured, obviously, and I firmly believe that he should always be considered innocent until proven guilty, but this became one of those remarkable grey areas where you are forced to ask yourself whether the truth will ever come out. Because on one side you have a highly valuable franchise property 'kid' out on the town, drinking, taking drugs, mixing it up with women, and then inviting them back to his lavish home. And on the other hand you have some young women that are also simply having a good time, and possibly get caught in the headlights of fame and fortune along the way.

Law enforcement did a fair job attempting to keep their investigation out of the limelight, so as not to be tainted by public opinion, but inevitably there was always going to be some kind of ripple effect from the extremely high profile of the case.

For instance, an evidence bag that contained the accuser's rape kit showed up on the accuser's mother's doorstep. It was widely regarded as an extremely odd occurrence and was never actually settled (although was proclaimed a 'hoax' without any evidence to back up any claims either way). Local talk radio sold the narrative of a money-grubbing attention whore, while actual journalists tried to reserve their judgments and wait for justice to play out.

In short, it was a shit show, and was settled out of court, so we'll never know the truth. I'm sure a lot of Kane's fans feel better because of that, but it makes me, personally, all the more leery of the whole thing.