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Carson Brière, son of Flyers GM, gets probation in wheelchair incident

Carson Brière signed with a European hockey team and will avoid jail time over a March incident at an Erie bar that went viral.

Carson Briere, seen signing a T-shirt at a 2019 event at Stone Harbor Elementary School in Stone Harbor, N.J.
Carson Briere, seen signing a T-shirt at a 2019 event at Stone Harbor Elementary School in Stone Harbor, N.J.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
    by Rob Tornoe
    Published 

Carson Brière, the son of Flyers general manager Danny Brière, will avoid jail time after having pushed a woman’s empty wheelchair down a flight of stairs at bar in Western Pennsylvania.

Brière, 24, and Patrick Carrozzi, 22, will each serve 15 months probation for a second-degree misdemeanor count of criminal mischief as part of a program for first-time, nonviolent offenders, according to a ruling by Erie County Court of Common Pleas Judge John J. Mead, as confirmed by his office. The ruling was first reported by the Erie Times-News, and the probation program will allow the charges to be dismissed and their records expunged.

Chad Vilushis, Brière’s attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

The incident took place on March 11 at Sullivan’s pub in Erie. According to court records, the wheelchair was owned by Sydney Benes, a double amputee who lost her legs in a 2021 automobile crash, according to the Erie Times-News. Benes said she left the wheelchair at the top of the stairs while her friends carried her to a bathroom downstairs.

Brière and Carrozzi were captured via a security camera sitting on and playing with the wheelchair before rolling it down the staircase. The video went viral on social media, leading to Brière’s removal from the men’s hockey team at Mercyhurst University.

“I am deeply sorry for my behavior,” Brière said in a statement in March. “There is no excuse for my actions, and I will do whatever I can to make up for this serious lack of judgment.”

Brière’s father said in a statement at the time he was “shocked” to see his son’s behavior, calling the decision to damage the wheelchair “inexcusable” and “completely counter to our family’s values on treating people with respect.”

After his dismissal from Mercyhurst, Brière entered the NCAA’s Division I transfer portal and ultimately signed with a team in Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga, the country’s top professional hockey league.

Brière played hockey as a freshman for Arizona State University during the 2019-20 season, but was dismissed for violating team rules, according to ESPN.