Washington Capitals defenseman Alex Alexeyev was pepper-sprayed and then arrested in Clarendon early Saturday morning. ARLnow first reported news of Alexeyev’s arrest on Monday afternoon.
Kiyah Daniell, communications specialist for the Arlington County Police Department, confirmed the news to RMNB. “Aleksandr Alekseev, 25, of Arlington, Va. was arrested and charged with Public Intoxication,” she wrote.
The Russian rearguard was then booked at the Arlington County jail at 4:19 am Saturday and later released. No court date has been made publicly available yet.
A Capitals representative provided the following statement to RMNB:
We are aware of the situation involving Alexander Alexeyev and in the process of gathering additional information.
Alexeyev’s booking photo shows the Caps blueliner smiling, still missing the front teeth that were knocked out of his mouth by a Jake Evans high stick in Game 1 of this year’s playoffs.
“At approximately 3:26 a.m. on May 17, officers on patrol in the 3100 block of Clarendon Boulevard were flagged down by a witness who reported an active fight outside of a business,” Daniell said. “Officers subsequently observed the male suspect involved in a physical altercation with the male subject.
“As officers approached, the male suspect assaulted the male subject, and one officer deployed pepper spray as he was taken into custody. The suspect was treated on scene by medics for pepper spray exposure.”
ARLnow noted in its report that, via scanner traffic, the incident happened in front of Big Tony’s Pizzeria, across from the Clarendon Metro station.
Alexeyev, who played in only eight games during the regular season, was called into full-time action in the playoffs due to Martin Fehervary’s season-ending knee injury. He played in all 10 of the team’s postseason games, skating on average 10:24 of ice time per game.
The 2018 first-round draft selection has played parts of four seasons with the Capitals, getting into 80 career NHL games. In those games, he has eight career points (1g, 7a). Alexeyev is a restricted free agent this summer.
Additional reporting by Ian Oland and Katie Adler.
