Carson Brière Suspended After Wheelchair Pushing Video

PHILADELPHIA — Carson Brière, the son of Philadelphia Flyers interim General Manager Daniel Brière, has been suspended from his university hockey team after a viral video showed him and others pushing an empty wheelchair down a set of stairs.

Brière, a 23-year-old hockey player and student at Mercyhurst University in Erie, was captured on camera at Sullivan's Bar on March 11 pushing Sydney Benes's wheelchair down a set of stairs.

The video now has more than 10 million views on Twitter.

Wednesday evening, Mercyhurst University athletics announced Brière and two other student athletes were placed on interim suspension in connection with the incident while it is being investigated.

The university itself issued a statement in which Brière apologized, calling the moment a "serious lack of judgement."

In the statement, the university said in part "students and all people who make poor choices deserve opportunities to learn, change behaviors, and atone for harmful actions."

CollegeHockeyNew.com reports this is not the first time Carson Brière has been subject to scrutiny.

He initially attended and played for Arizona State, but was dismissed for violating team rules, according to the outlet.

Benes, 22, lost her legs in a car crash in 2021.

She's been documenting her recovery on social media since August 2022.

According to the video's timestamp, the incident occurred at about 11:38 p.m. on Saturday, about a day after his father Daniel Brière was named the Flyers interim General Manager Friday after serving as the special assistant to the general manager for part of the 2021-22 season, ESPN reports.

His father spent 18 seasons with various NHL teams, including the Flyers.

"I was shocked to see Carson’s actions in the video that was shared on social media yesterday,” Daniel Brière wrote. “They are inexcusable and run completely counter to our family’s values of treating people with respect."