Former Australian rules football player Wayne Carey was 86’d from the Crown Casino Perth last week after a small bag of white powder fell out of his top pocket onto a gaming table. Now, he is considering suing the casino for disability discrimination, according to his lawyer.
The Australian Football League (AFL) Hall of Famer was banned from all Crown Resorts properties for two years following the incident. He was also relieved of his positions as a pundit for Channel 7 and Triple M.
But Carey’s lawyer said his client is being punished because of an “assumption that the bag contained an illegal drug,” which he added was not the case.
Mr. Carey is prescribed anti-inflammatories and pain killing medicine to help manage the significant pain caused by debilitating football injuries – including a shoulder that needs replacing and a neck injury that requires three discs to be replaced,” Carey’s attorney, Josh Bornstein, said in a statement.
Bornstein said he is considering whether Carey is being unlawfully discriminated against because of a “pre-existing disability.”
‘Privileged White Men’
The statement has raised eyebrows in the Australian media because Carey has never identified as a disabled person. Meanwhile, the former ex-player is no stranger to scandal, and his history with illegal drugs is well-documented.
He has in the past admitted to having problems with alcohol and cocaine, and has a police record for domestic violence, assault, and resisting arrest.
In 2012, while attempting to visit Barwon Prison as part of an inmate mentoring program, he was found to have traces of cocaine on his clothing during a routine drug scan.
“It’s just so laughable what people will say to get out of a serious offence. I haven’t seen him advocate for disability rights prior to this,’ disability rights activist and writer Carly Findlay told News Corp. “When privileged white men … try and get out of bad behavior, it makes it harder for everyone.”
Lack of Substance
Meanwhile, West Australian Police confirmed last week it was investigating the incident and was critical of the way the casino handled the matter – or, more accurately, failed to handle it.
Commissioner Col Blanch said the casino should have confiscated the substance and reported the incident to the police.
“I can’t speak directly to the decisions made at the time that occurred. But if there was any suspicion by any person that there were drugs possessed or drugs obtained, or was in the possession of authorities down at Crown, I would have expected a phone call to police to manage that matter,” Blanch told Perth radio station 6PR. “It will be very difficult without the substance itself to prove whether it was an illicit substance or otherwise.”
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