A man was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of former NHL player Adam Johnson, the South Yorkshire (England) Police announced Tuesday.
The arrest comes more than two weeks since police began investigating the incident that led to Johnson's death on Oct. 28. Johnson was playing for the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) when his throat was cut by a skate blade during a collision in a Champions Cup game in Sheffield, England, against the Sheffield Steelers.
Johnson was 29. South Yorkshire Police said in a statement that a postmortem examination confirmed Johnson died from a fatal neck injury.
The man, whose identity was not released by the police, remains in custody. «Our investigation launched immediately following this tragedy and we have been carrying out extensive enquiries ever since to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances,» South Yorkshire Chief Superintendent Becs Horsfall said. «We have been speaking to highly specialised experts in their field to assist in our enquiries and continue to work closely with the health and safety department at Sheffield City Council, which is supporting our ongoing investigation.» The player whose skate blade cut Johnson's neck was Matt Petgrave, 31, who plays for Sheffield.