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Report: Off-duty cop served as Kane's driver on night of alleged assault

An off-duty Buffalo police officer served as Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane's driver on the night he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his Upstate New York home, according to a report published Sunday in the Buffalo News.

According to the report, Lt. Thomas English told newspaper that he drove Kane, the accuser, her female friend and a male friend of Kane's to the player's suburban Buffalo home early on the morning of Aug. 2. He said he dropped the group off at the residence then left.

English, described as a longtime family friend who has worked for Kane for five years, said he's spoken with investigators from the Erie County District Attorney's Office. He told the newspaper he has no way of knowing what happened between Kane and the accuser inside the house, but witnessed nothing inappropriate during the drive there or earlier in the night when Kane met the woman and her friend at a Buffalo nightclub.

Kane, 26, has not been charged, and authorities in Buffalo say the investigation is ongoing. Neither Kane or his attorney, Paul J. Cambria Jr., have publicly addressed the accusations.

In the Buffalo News, English disputed the accounts of three of the newspaper's sources - a friend of the accuser, a law enforcement source and a source in the legal community - who reported that the accuser went to Kane's home at her friend's urging. According to English, it was the other way around, and the accuser urged her female friend to go with them to Kane's home.

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