WARMINGTON: Charge laid in Ayesha Curry heckling incident
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Tristan Warkentin said he didn’t think he would be charged for his admitted “disgraceful” heckling of the wife of Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry while being interviewed by a female CP24 reporter.
He was wrong.
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Toronto Police announced Thursday morning that the 28-year-old Ottawa salesman has been charged with mischieff Property” and will make his first appearance in court July 13.
This all stems from his Sunday night appearance on CP24 when he made vulgar comments to reporter Kelly Linehan about Ayesha Curry, a TV host and business woman who’s from the Toronto-area.
Outside at Jurassic Park, he told reporter Kelly Linehan during a live television interview: “I just wanted to let everyone know: Ayesha Curry, we’re going to f—- her in the p——.”
The charges have yet to be tested in court and Warkentin is innocent until proven guilty.
“It is alleged that: A reporter had asked a man to comment regarding the Raptors win,” said a Toronto Police news release. “He was advised it would be broadcast on live TV” and “during the interview he uttered profane phrases.”
Police said the incident happened at 11:10 p.m., at University Ave. and Front St. W.
The Toronto Sun — with help of people who knew him — tracked him down.
In an interview, Warkentin said “what I did was disgraceful; it was an alcohol-influenced situation.”
He added “to be honest, I don’t even remember being there but I am responsible for my own actions at the end of the day.”
When asked if he would apologize to Ms. Linehan, he told me what he planned to do was “reach out to Mr. and Mrs. Curry and that’s realistically who I feel I owe an apology to – and maybe Toronto.”
Linehan is out of the country on a scheduled vacation and unavailable for comment.
Now there has been much discussion about this in many circles — same taking the approach that it is minor in nature. But I knew Toronto Police were taking it seriously when they announced an investigation.
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My feeling is, whether it leads to a conviction or not, Toronto Police have done the right thing in laying a charge because this kind of abusing of female reporters and lives audiences needs to stop.
A criminal charge often acts as a deterrence.
Warkentin told me he had consulted his lawyer Monday and received advice that it was not a criminal matter.
“There (are) no criminal charges that can be laid because of what happened,” he said.
Toronto Police saw it differently.
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