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Slava Voynov suspended indefinitely

NHL, Los Angeles Kings

Slava Voynov was arrested Monday morning on domestic violence charges and has been suspended indefinitely from the Los Angeles Kings pending a formal investigation by the NHL.

Voynov was arrested at 3:45 a.m. ET (12:45 a.m. PT) on Monday by Redondo Beach police. Voynov's bail amount was set at $50,000, which he posted, Sgt. Paul Ribitzki of the Redondo Beach PD said.

According to Redondo Beach Police Department Lieutenant Joe Hoffman, the RBPD expects to meet with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office at some point this week regarding the investigation. Hoffman told ESPN.com when reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon that the filing status may not be determined immediately but the two sides will meet at least on a preliminary basis.

Additionally, Hoffman told ESPN.com that the victim in this case was offered an emergency protective order against Voynov, but the victim declined. Because of this, there is no legal reason to prevent the victim and Voynov from living together or remaining in close contact.

A child was witness to the incident, Hoffman confirmed, and investigators are taking that fact into consideration as they continue to look further investigate the case, though the child was not removed from the home.

Officers responded to a house in Redondo Beach around 2:25 a.m. ET (11:25 p.m. PT) after a neighbor called police, saying a woman was screaming for "the past 20 minutes and could now be heard crying," according to a news release from the Redondo Beach Police Department.

The release said officers responded and found no one in the house, but around 90 minutes later, received a call from nearby Torrance policy saying a woman was being treated at Little Company of Mary Hospital for "injuries that were possibly received during a domestic violence incident."

Redondo Beach officers met with the person at the hospital and arrested Voynov, who was at the hospital.

Reached via email, Redondo Beach city prosecutor Melanie Chivara told ESPN.com that Voynov will next appear in court Dec. 1 in Torrance, California. She said his case will be reviewed by the district attorney's office for felony consideration. No charges have been filed.

"These developments are of great concern to our organization," the Kings said in a statement. "We support the NHL's decision to suspend Slava Voynov indefinitely during this process, and we will continue to take appropriate action as the legal proceedings and the investigation by the NHL take their course."

Voynov's lawyer, Craig Renetzky, declined to divulge any further details about the case but stressed that charges have not yet been filed.

"It's very early in the stages and no charges have been filed," Renetzky told ESPN.com when reached by phone Monday afternoon. "That doesn't mean charges will be filed or are warranted in this case. We're conducting our own investigation to determine what happened."

The suspension was announced by the NHL after it consulted with the NHL Players Association.  The collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players says that, during a criminal investigation, "the League may suspend the Player pending the League's formal review and disposition of the matter where the failure to suspend the Player during this period would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League."

Reached by telephone Monday morning, Voynov's agent, Rolland Hedges, declined to comment about the situation.

"I'm sorry, I really can't," he told ESPN.com.

Hedges said he was working on gathering more information about the situation.

Voynov will continue to be paid during the suspension. He has two assists in six games this season -- his fourth with the Kings. Voynov is 24.

"Clearly the NHL is looking at the (NFL) and saying they need to do something different," National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill told ESPN.com. "The concern that I have is that the woman's safety and economic security must be the paramount concern of the NHL."

When asked about the issue of domestic violence at the beginning of this season, commissioner Gary Bettman said the league had been working with the union on the policy for over a decade.

"We as a league have more than enough authority and mechanisms to punish, if necessary, in the appropriate case. Fortunately we haven't seen too many. But more importantly we focus on counseling and education, and in the joint programs we have with the Players' Association we've been counseling and educating on domestic violence for more than a decade, I don't remember the exact date," he said. "The security department does it in their annual meetings with each team, and the behavioral counselors from the substance abuse, behavioral health program also counsel and educate the players on those and many other issues.

"So I'm not sure for us there is any need for any code of conduct other than our players, who overwhelming conduct themselves magnificently off the ice -- we deal with it on a case by case basis. I don't think we need to formalize anything more. Our players know what's right and wrong, and as I said, we have the mechanisms in place to hopefully not get to that point."

Last season, Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov was involved in a domestic violence charge involving his girlfriend, but was able to travel and play with the team while the case went through the judicial system.

Varlamov's girlfriend, Evgeniya Vavrinyukat, told police he knocked her down with a kick, stomped on her chest and dragged her by her hair at their apartment on Oct. 30, according to an arrest affidavit.

When asked about the different treatment of Varlamov and Voynov, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun in an email: "The facts and circumstances are different."

ESPN.com's Katie Strang and Arash Markazi, ESPN The Magazine's Craig Custance and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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