A popular ESPN sportscaster wants an upstate ice arena put in the penalty box because a bunch of rowdy kids pushed a heavy coin machine on top of her before an event there — leaving her with a gash that took 25 stitches to close.
Sports anchor Linda Cohn, 54, filed a negligence lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against the operators of Brewster Ice Arena in response to the injury she suffered to her right arm.
Cohn says in her suit that “a heavy, large coin-change machine fell upon her” March 27 while she was about to take the ice for a promotional event with players from the Rangers’ minor-league affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Cohn, of Southbury, Conn., claims in her suit to still be suffering great pain and being limited in daily activities because of the incident, and blames the Brewster arena’s management for not preventing it. She is on active duty for ESPN.
The suit, quietly filed in July, doesn’t mention that she works for the network, nor does it provide much detail about what happened.
But Cohn did offer a photo on her Twitter and WhoSay accounts of her arm after it was stitched up. She said the incident prevented her from doing the Wolf Pack appearance, in which she planned to play goalie.
Cohn, who has worked at ESPN since 1992, played goalie in college while attending SUNY-Oswego, and played for the boys’ team at her high school.
“This is what kept me from taking ice w/ @WolfpackAHL today. Some kids playing in arcade knocked over metal machine onto my arm 25 stitches,” she tweeted.
The suit also names Steve Santini and Southeast Sports Complex LLC, which owns the three-rink arena. Messages left for Santini were not returned.
ESPN said Cohn was off duty at the time of the incident, and referred inquiries to her publicist, who did not return messages.