Former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Malone has been having a hard time of late. He was bought out of his contract by the team in late June and in April he was arrested for DUI and cocaine possession.
As it turns out, the cocaine part of the story was a surprise to him at the time.
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports Malone was unaware he had cocaine on him when he was pulled over by police.
“I asked where it came from,” officer Andrew Visser wrote in his report. “And he said he was just shocked.”
Malone plead not-guilty to the charges, but according to court documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times he had 1.3 grams of cocaine in his possession. He also initially refused a field sobriety test but had a blood-alcohol level of 0.112 and 0.116 when he was booked. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.
Malone is currently a free agent and may not be likely to land with a new team until his legal issues are sorted out.