Thursday, April 19, 2012

Swim coach Trent McNicol of Whitby, Ontario arrested for sexual assault. IS INNOCENT - ALL CHARGES DROPPED!


Charges dropped against Trent McNicol, [Link]

Yikes - another award winning coach arrested for sexual assault. The club that McNicol coached for, the Whitby Dolphins,  has put it's website in a state of Limbo so to speak only offering up an email address.

This sport has a systemic problem that needs radical action to fix. I suggest other states and communities look at California Assembly Bill 1628 as an option.

According to the Whitby Dolphins website, McNicol was named Ontario swim coach of the year in 2001 and has coached 40 provincial champions over the course of his career.
The Whitby Dolphins Swim Club announced on Thursday that McNicol was relieved of his duties on Wednesday and has been absent from work since last week. 
"The Whitby Dolphins Swim Club is fully cooperating with law enforcement officers during this investigation," president Jean Francois Potvin said in a statement. 
"We feel that every child that sets foot onto our pool decks has the right to a safe environment and that every parent should feel confident that competent and model citizens look after their child." 
[Link]

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I Canada a person is innocent until proven guilty, perhaps California is different. I find it hard to believe you can comment on a situation or a person without knowing them.
Nobody has any facts, I have know this man , his wife and children for years and do not believe he has done anything wrong.
How many times has someone that has made something of their live been accused and found innocent.
Get the facts first.

Tony Austin said...

I am going to publish every arrest and every exoneration.

Do I think this guy guilty? I don't know but the police think he is.

Till then I am going to publish my thoughts on how both Children and coaches can be protected from abuse or false allegations.

See this post:

http://scaq.blogspot.com/2010/01/pedophile-swim-caoch-stories-surge-in.html

Anonymous said...

The police in the jurisdiction do not have an opinion on guilt, the laws and processes required them to arrest the coach.
This is an extremely unfortunate situation and those people who know additional information that is not public are hoping for a quick and appropriate resolution. Whatever that resolution is, both the alleged victim and accused will never be the same and that is an unfortunate outcome in all these cases.

Tony Austin said...

Anonymous, If the police had no opinion on guilt or innocence, in this country that is non-cause to arrest somebody.

As this plays out I will follow it and publish the end result.

TedBaker said...

"Anonymous, If the police had no opinion on guilt or innocence, in this country that is non-cause to arrest somebody."

That's the problem here, Tony. You're commenting about law in jurisdiction where you have no understanding of the law. A compliant is lodged and charges are laid. A compliant involving sexual assault always results in a charge, whether or not the police believe the individual is guilty or not. They are obligated to proceed to a charge. It's left to the bench to sort out guilt or innocence.

Tony Austin said...

Wow, that "schools" me, but I must add that this judicial policy seems as oppressive as a third world "banana republic." i.e. Make an accusation that seems somewhat plausible and subsequent charges are filed.

Anonymous said...

Correct, this man is innocent until proven guilty........But I have been on deck with this individual on a number of occasions and his behavior (on a number of levels) was extremely inappropriate.

Tony Austin said...

I have been doing news searches on Trent McNicol so as to follow up on this story as it unfolds. I have no idea if he is guilty or innocent.

Innocent till proven guilty appears to be a US concept rather than a Canadian one if the reader above is correct in that an allegation alone can get you arrested before all the evidence is culled.

Anonymous said...

Again, from watching first hand his interactions with athletes on a number of occasions, it is not at all a surprise to me that these allegations have come forward. Guilty or innocent of these specific charges, this guy put himself in precarious position by the way that he interacted with his athletes....Where there's smoke, there's usually fire!

I hope for the alleged victim's sake and this coaches sake that these allegations aren't true.....

Anonymous said...

I think that is part of the problem here........the sentiments of "mind your own business" or "I know this guys and he's a family man he would never do something like this" or "don't say anything until you have all the facts".........I personally feel guilty because his interactions in public with athletes through up a HUGE red flag in my mind and all I did was point it out to a colleague, talked about it a bit and moved on under the pretense of "minding my own business". Even if he didn't cross the line with an athlete (the a fore mention allegations)I should have probably gone up to the guy and said, "look buddy, you might want to tone it down a bit, your crossing the line a bit"

Tony Austin said...

I''m curious, presuming your observations are in fact a reality and you have witnessed this person on deck, in your opinion, would a no one-on-one policy prevented this problem or accusation?

Anonymous said...

I would say in this case "keep your hands to yourself" especially if you are a male coach working with teenage girls. In this day and age a "touchy, feely" approach where you try to connect and communicate with the athletes at their level is unsafe. And yes, as a rule, never put yourself in a position where you are by yourself with an athlete. Open door policy at all times (so to speak.

Tony Austin said...

So, nothing short of a simple code of conduct and a no one-on-one rule would have prevented this. Why is this so hard to get through the governing bodies and the LSCs?

Anonymous said...

well listening to the bs on this is very amazing as of todays news the charges were dropped. The crown couldnt find enough evidence.I do hope you keep your word and report this. If and when the truth comes out i do hope the accuser gets the help they need. Or maybe they will move on to another person, and destroy their lives too