One of the fans who was fined and charged with disorderly conduct late last season for throwing an octopus on the ice at Joe Louis Arena had the charges against him dropped by the city of Detroit.
↵Charlie Graves was the criminal mastermind who threw a cephalopod onto the Joe Louis ice during a March 21 game with Pittsburgh. He admitted to ushers that he threw the creature and was slapped with a $500 fine by the NHL and a date in court. Graves pleaded not guilty to his charge, but it was all for naught as the arresting officer failed to show up in court for the hearing:
↵↵↵"It is a 50-something-odd-year tradition," Graves said. "I feel the city of Detroit takes pride in their tradition, and if the (NHL) commissioner thinks we are going to go down without a fight, he is wrong."
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I'm guessing the officer's thinking was that this was such a bogus case it wasn't worth the taxpayers' time and money to show up in court. If you haven't heard, Detroit has a slight crime problem; people throwing octopuses on the ice at a Red Wings game are the least of the Detroit Police Department's concerns.
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