Ariz. police: Coyotes center Alex Galchenyuk threatened officers’ families

July 15 (UPI) — Former Arizona Coyotes center Alex Galchenyuk threatened to kill Scottsdale, Ariz., police officers and their families while being stopped and arrested last week, police reports indicate.

Official police accounts of the July 9 incident, published Friday by the Arizona Republic and Arizona Sports, accused the 29-year-old player of threatening to “chop you, your wife, your daughter,” and saying, “One phone call and you’re dead, your whole family, your blood line is dead.”

Police said Galchenyuk also claimed he had “connections in Moscow” and would have one of the arresting officer’s “wife’s and daughter’s kidneys cut out.”

He also allegedly used a racial slur against one of the officers.

Galchenyuk, who had signed a free agent deal with the Coyotes just two weeks ago, saw his contract terminated on Friday, the team announced.

“We are aware of the incident involving Alex Galchenyuk and strongly condemn this type of behavior,” the team said in a statement. “Once the club was made aware of the allegations, we immediately began the process of terminating his Standard Player’s Contract through the proper channels in conjunction with the National Hockey League.”

As a result, Coyotes said they have “exercised the team’s right to terminate the contract of Alex Galchenyuk due to a material breach of the terms of his Standard Player’s Contract.”

Galchenyuk, a former 3rd-overall draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens who has racked up 146 goals and 208 assists over 654 career games, was charged with private property hit and run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest, and threatening or intimidating, according to Scottsdale police.

Officers said they pulled him over after seeing two men in a BMW driving erratically. After the car pulled into a parking lot, the men exited the vehicle and lay down on the ground before getting back into the car and resuming their trip, they alleged.

Police said they recognized the two men were “heavily intoxicated” and stopped the car, when Galchenyuk got out and allegedly made the threatening statements.