Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews faces a disorderly conduct charge stemming from an incident on May 26, in his hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz.
It was not made public until The Toronto Star obtained a copy of the police report, filed May 28 by a security guard who works at Matthews’ apartment complex. The report alleges that Matthews and a group of friends attempted to open car door as she sat inside completing paperwork at 2 a.m. local time. This led to a confrontation between Matthews’ group and the guard during which Matthews allegedly pulled down his pants.
Matthews did not speak top the Leafs regarding the incident until after it became public knowledge on Sept. 24; general manager Kyle Dubas only learned of it through social media.
The charges come as the Leafs prepare for the new season with one of the league’s most talented rosters and shortly after head coach Mike Babcock said the team’s next captain would be named soon. Toronto has played without a captain for the last three seasons.
With all that in mind, here is everything we know about the circumstances surrounding Matthews’ charges.
MORE: Video emerges of security guard detailing incident with Auston Matthews
What is Auston Matthews accused of doing?
According to the police report, at 2 a.m. on May 26, Matthews and a group of friends allegedly tried to open a security guard’s car door outside his apartment complex as she sat inside the car completing paperwork. When the security guard exited her vehicle, she came across Matthews and his friends, who told her “they wanted to see what she would do and believed it would be funny to see how she would respond.”
As the security guard confronted Matthews and his friends — who, by her recounting of the incident, were drunk — Matthews allegedly walked away from the group and pulled down his pants, eventually bending over and grabbing his butt, though he still wore underwear. According to the guard, Matthews’ friend asked her not to inform building management of the incident and said Matthews had “been doing that up and down Scottsdale Road” even after his friends warned him police could take notice.
The report notes after Matthews and his friends left, the guard continued her work and came across one of Matthews’ friends again at about 2:30 a.m., who asked her not to tell building management about the incident once more.
Is there video of the alleged incident?
Yes. While video of the incident has not been publicly released, the police report notes that the building manager showed a police officer surveilance video of a man walking toward the building with his pants around his ankles, who was confirmed by building management to be Matthews.
In the security guard’s interview with police, captured on the officer’s bodycamera, she said she would not have pressed charges against Matthews; however Matthews’ father had claimed he did nothing wrong when informed of the incident by building management and said that the guard’s claims were untrue.
“Now the father said, ‘My son said he didn’t do any of that,'” the guard said in video released by TMZ. “[The building manager was] like, ‘Really? Standby. Let me you send you a video clip of what your son said he didn’t do.'”
Disorderly conduct charge: What it means in Arizona
According to the Arizona state legislature’s website, disorderly conduct is classified within the state as when a person commits any of the following six actions “with intent to disturb the peace or quiet of a neighborhood, family or person, or with knowledge of doing so”:
1. Engages in fighting, violent or seriously disruptive behavior.
2. Makes unreasonable noise.
3. Uses abusive or offensive language or gestures to any person present in a manner likely to provoke immediate physical retaliation by such person.
4. Makes any protracted commotion, utterance or display with the intent to prevent the transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering or procession.
5. Refuses to obey a lawful order to disperse issued to maintain public safety in dangerous proximity to a fire, a hazard or any other emergency.
6. Recklessly handles, displays or discharges a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.
The classification notes that disorderly conduct categorized under option six — referred to as subsection A, paragraph 6 — is a Class 6 felony in Arizona. Disorderly conduct that falls under the first five categories is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Matthews’ charge falls under the latter. According to sports law writer Eric Macramalla, it could result in up to six months in jail, a $2,500 fine and up to five years probation if convicted.
Macramalla notes that a civil lawsuit could be filed, too.
Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs statements so far
The Leafs issued the following statement after news broke about Matthews’ charge on Sept. 24:
“The Toronto Maple Leafs are aware of the complaint of disturbing the peace against forward Auston Matthews. Auston is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities but neither he nor the Club will comment any further out of respect for the process involved.”
On Sept. 25, Matthews made a statement to reporters after practicing with the Leafs but did not take questions.
“Obviously [it’s not something I think any of us wish we were talking about today, but unfortunately it’s the situation we’re in,” he said. “I regret any of my actions that would ever put a distraction on the team or distress on any individual. I take a lot of pride in preparing myself for the season and representing the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as I can.”
Statements made by Matthews’ teammates, coaches and GM throughout the day made it apparent that Matthews had not informed the Leafs of the situation before it became public knowledge. Dubas even told reporters that he called the star center after reading the news on Twitter.
“There was no ducking, there was no denying anything,” Dubas said of his call with Matthews after the team’s preseason game on Sept 25. “He was very honest with me about what had happened. I would’ve liked to know before, but I’m happy that in the moment when he could have ducked away or deferred that he was honest with me.”
Dubas told reporters that “moments like this” remind the organization just how young some of its players are, and that the team has an obligation to help them learn how to conduct themselves off the ice as well as on it.
“I think you always wish that whenever you’re part of any organization, athletics or otherwise, that there’s never going to be any issues, there’s never going to be any errors in judgment and never going to be any distractions. Unfortunately, there often are,” Dubas said. “We have to use it as an opportunity to continue to educate our whole organization — every player, every staff member — about the way that we expect our organization to conduct its business here at the rink every day — in the weight room, in the community — and how they interact with every citizen that they come into contact with, because when they are doing so they’re representing the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Matthews has called his decision not to inform the Leafs of the charges “an error in judgment on my part.”
Will the NHL or the Maple Leafs punish Auston Matthews?
No announcements have been made yet indicating that either the league or the Leafs will punish Matthews for the incident. Dubas noted that while he is “disappointed” with Matthews, the young superstar and the Leafs are still on good terms.
There is the issue of the team’s captaincy, which has been vacant since the Leafs traded former captain Dion Phaneuf to the Senators in Feb. 2016. In the three seasons since then, Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and 2018 free agent acquisition John Tavares have all emerged as candidates to be the team’s next captain.
Babock told reporters on Sept. 13 that a decision on who will serve as captain was “coming soon,” but the Matthews news may create an awkward situation if the plan was to name No. 34 the captain.
Matthews is one of the faces of the franchise, and should be well into the future, but naming but it could be a bad PR move to name him captain in the midst of these legal charges, expecially when they already have Tavares, a captain for five seasons with the Islanders, or Rielly, one of the league’s top defensemen at just 25 years old.