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“You f---ing fight me and you’re f---ing gonna regret it,” a combative law enforcement officer in Florida tells Brunette while handcuffing him.
The Feb. 1 exchange between the Broward County sheriff’s deputy and the former Florida Panthers head coach was captured in police bodycam video obtained by Fox Sports 640 host Andy Slater and posted via his Slater Scoops podcast.
Slater dropped the video on Tuesday, April 18, barely three hours before the biscuit dropped at the Prudential Center in Newark, where the New York Rangers beat the Devils, 5-1, in the first game of their opening-round Stanley Cup playoff.
Brunette, 49, apparently had just left a bar in Deerfield Beach, FL, with his wife a few days before the NHL All-Star Game at the nearby home of the Panthers, FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
Deputies began following the couple's golf cart because it had been parked illegally outside the bar, authorities said. A field test was attempted because Brunette’s speech was slurred and he appeared unsteady on his feet, they alleged.
The Devils at the time said they were aware of the incident and were looking into it. They haven’t addressed it since.
The body camera video released by Slater opens with deputies following the cart in a squad car.
“Annnnd nope, never came to a complete stop," one says to another. "All right, pull him over.”
Brunette first tells the deputies that his wife was driving and tries to give them her driver’s license. He then admits he was driving but doesn’t have his own license or wallet. He also points out that they live just up the street.
The deputy says they pulled Brunette over because he ran two stop signs.
“You slowed down really good, but you never came to a complete stop, OK?” says the one wearing the body camera.
The deputy asks Brunette whether he'd had anything to drink. The coach says beer. The deputy asks how many -- two is the reply.
“What kind?”
A Mexican lager at one joint and then a Bud Lite at another, Brunette replies.
The video skips to a deputy directing Brunette to walk heel-to-toe as part of a DWI field test.
The coach becomes frustrated after one step.
“All right, I’m gonna call my lawyer," he says, marching toward the golf cart.
“No, no, don’t walk off,” one deputy says.
The other grabs Brunette from behind.
“Don’t touch me,” the coach says.
The deputy then issues the ultimatum: “You f---in’ fight me and you’re f---ckin’ gonna regret it.”
Brunette staggers a bit trying to pull away.
“Put your hands behind your back and don’t f–king move -- do you understand me?” the deputy says.
Brunette relents and is handcuffed from behind.
“You’re really doing this?” he asks the deputies. “I'm just trying to go home, like a block away."
A deputy jots down information on a clipboard.
“You know I coached the Florida Panthers?” Brunette asks.
“Sorry?” a deputy responds.
“The Florida Panthers, I was coaching,” he says.
“Yeah?” the deputy asks.
“Yeah,” Brunette says. “You don’t care.”
“No,” the deputy responds. “No disrespect, but no.”
As the Panthers' interim coach last year, Brunette led Florida to the franchise’s highest win total ever and the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's top regular season team. He was nonetheless replaced by Paul Maurice and then hired by the Devils last July to Head Coach Lindy Ruff’s staff.
As a player, Brunette has the distinction of scoring the last goal ever on legendary net minder Patrick Roy in Game 7 of the Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup championship victory 20 years ago this coming Saturday.
Brunette’s driving record in Florida shows two speeding offenses – one of which was dismissed and the other resolved when he paid a $260 fine.
He was taken to the Broward County Jail and processed the night of the golf cart incident before being released on $500 bond, according to multiple reports.
Slater, who posted the video, said Brunette's attorney, Eric Schwartzreich, told him:
“Mr. Brunette was neither drunk nor impaired. We look forward to Mr. Brunette being vindicated of this accusation.”
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