By Lou Michel, Robert J. McCarthy
Hamburg police are investigating an incident allegedly involving Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane, two sources with knowledge of the investigation told The Buffalo News.
UPDATE: Sources: Kane target of rape investigation
Two sources said Hamburg police officials have barred their officers and detectives from publicly discussing the investigation.
“We cannot confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of a criminal investigation until someone is charged with a crime,” said Hamburg Police Chief Gregory G. Wickett.
Erie County Prosecutor Frank A. Sedita III used very similar language when asked about an investigation.
“We do not confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of an investigation until a person has been charged with a crime,” Sedita said.
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Wickett denied The News access to the police blotter for the weekend, but suggested The News file a Freedom of Information Act request.
The News presented him with two FOI requests, one seeking complaints or reports filed with the department for a specific period of time and the other seeking complaints or reports involving Kane for that same period of time.
But it may be some time before The News can learn whether a complaint has been filed. The municipality has 20 days to accept or refuse the request.
The Hamburg Sun, however, regularly reports material from Hamburg police blotters.
No charges have been filed in the investigation and it is unclear whether police have questioned the 26-year-old hockey player.
The News went to Kane’s Hamburg home Wednesday morning to seek comment, but was denied access by a man at the home who did not identify himself.
A reporter asked the same man working at the home if he could leave a card to speak to Kane, but was refused and told to leave the property.
Paul J. Cambria Jr., an attorney who has represented Kane in the past, would neither confirm nor deny any aspect of the situation. “I have nothing to say,” Cambria told a News reporter.
Cambria represented Kane in a 2009 case involving a altercation with Buffalo taxi driver.
In this case, Kane and his cousin pleaded to disorderly conducta non-criminal violation, after the two men were accused of assaulting a taxi driver in his taxi on the morning of August 9, 2009.