According to TSN's Rick Westhead, who was an insider in the Chicago sexual abuse controversy, interviewing and supporting the victim, former Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach.
«In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, lawyers for David Walkowiak and James Watkins, former crew officials who worked for the NHL during Lightning games in Tampa Bay, wrote that Walkowiak and Watkins should be rehired by the NHL and receive punitive damages for their treatment.»
«The legal complaint is similar to another lawsuit filed against the NHL in November 2020 by a former NHL official in Tampa who settled his wrongful dismissal case with the league last year. Walkowiak and Watkins alleged in their wrongful dismissal lawsuit that both were fired on Feb. 27, 2020. Watkins had worked for the NHL since 1998 while Walkowiak was hired in September 2005. During their tenure with the NHL, the two former officials alleged that colleague Pat DeLorenzo Jr. repeatedly used racist language at work.
«DeLorenzo made negative racial comments about NHL employees, including but not limited to NHL's African-American hockey players and the African-American veteran, Sonya Bryson-Kirksey, who sings the national anthem at Tampa Bay Lightning games at Amalie Arena,» the lawsuit alleges.»
