Impaired driving case against NHL player dropped by Crown

CTV London: Case dismissed Impaired driving case against NHL player Ryan O’Reilly dropped. Nick Paparella reports.

The trial for Buffalo Sabres’ forward Ryan O'Reilly was scheduled to start in London on Monday, but the case was dropped by the Crown.

The Crown stated Monday that there was "no reasonable prospect for conviction," and therefore dropped the case because an eyewitness couldn't place the Sabres star behind the wheel last July.

O'Reilly was facing impaired driving charges after police say his green Chevrolet pickup truck ran into the Tim Hortons on Richmond Street around 4 a.m. on July 9, 2015.

It happened a few weeks after he signed a seven-year, $52.5-million contract extension.

O'Reilly was also facing a charge of failure to remain at the scene.

After Monday's proceedings, O'Reilly said he was relieved that the Crown dropped its case and has always maintained that he was not the person in question driving that night.

"I'm just really glad to put this behind me," O'Reilly said to reporters in front of the courthouse.

O’Reilly’s lawyer, David Humphrey, agrees the Crown was right to drop the case.

“The case was always a single witness identification case in the sense that only one witness purported to be able to identify Mr. O’Reilly as the driver, something that he has always disputed."