Prosecutors drop aggravated assault charge against Yukon hockey prospect McKenna
Posted on: Feb 07, 2026 01:34 IST | Posted by: Cbc
Prosecutors feature withdrawn a felony provoked assault bill against Yukon-born hockey chance Gavin McKenna.
In a intelligence release on Friday, the Pennsylvania district attorney's office said the charge was not supported by video evidence of the incident.
The State College Police Department in Pennsylvania said earlier this week that McKenna, 18, faced four charges including felony aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct after an altercation near Pennsylvania State University's main campus.
McKenna, projected to be a top pick in the NHL draft, is playing college hockey this season with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
During the incident, police allege McKenna hit the 21-year-old man in the face, "resulting in facial injuries requiring corrective surgery."
Prosecutors said on Friday that the complainant alleged he was punched twice by McKenna after "an exchange of words" between the group he was with and another group that included McKenna. They said the complainant allegedly sustained fractures to both sides of his jaw and he was missing a tooth.
However, the district attorney's office said that police later confirmed the alleged victim was not missing a tooth, and had suffered two fractures to one side of his jaw, not both sides. The man had surgery and was recovering, prosecutors said.
They said that an aggravated assault charge means there was intent to cause serious injury or the person acted recklessly — and there's no evidence to support that charge against McKenna.
"A review of the video does not support a conclusion that Gavin McKenna acted with the intent to cause serious bodily injury or with reckless indifference to the value of human life," reads the news release.
McKenna still faces the other three charges of simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct, " as they relate to the serious injuries suffered by the victim," prosecutors said.
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