Roethlisberger accused of sex assault in lawsuit

[Union Yes]

Source: AP

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit, his lawyer said, denying the claim.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Washoe County District Court accusing Roethlisberger of assaulting a woman in July 2008.

Roethlisberger is one of nine defendants listed in the online court docket report. Further details of the lawsuit were not available Tuesday morning.

"Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone ... The timing of the lawsuit and the absence of a criminal complaint and a criminal investigation are the most compelling evidence of the absence of any criminal conduct. If an investigation is commenced, Ben will cooperate fully and Ben will be fully exonerated," David Cornwell, Roethlisberger's lawyer, said in a statement released early Tuesday.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_roethlisberger_lawsuit

[Bankhead_ATL]

1. Lets how they treat Ben Compared to Mick Vick

[Alhena]

2. Jeez- Vick has ADMITTED to killing dogs. Minor detail, eh?

[scheming daemons]

3. A) Vick did it, and there was evidence... B) There is no evidence against Ben

[Union Yes]

4. This story just broke so I'm waiting to find out more.

[bluestateguy]

8. Let's wait and see if he is actually convicted first

That's a minor detail there. So let's wait and see what the facts are.

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. He can't be convicted -- She never filed a criminal complaint. This is a civil suit

[Rebubula]

14. Awesome...

....Very nice attempt to make this a racial disparity story.

I give a you a 7 out of 10 on the troll meter.

[DatManFromNawlins]

22. Wrong black sports star

Try Kobe Bryant.

[Baclava]

5. Civil lawsuit = "He said - she said"?

Lots of holes in that thar story.

So much for a boring offseason. I bet Dennis Dixon (back-up QB) paid for all this.

[bushmeister0]

6. As a fan of a certain AFC team that is sick of the Steelers and would like them to disappear

for a while, I can't say I'm too sympathetic.

Although, the whole thing sounds kind of fishy -- if the alleged assault happen on a motorcycle, I'd be more convinced -- I'm thinking if this suit gets big Ben sat down by Goodell for the first six game or so . . . oh well.

[RamboLiberal]

16. Goodell can't sit him down if there's no evidence

And I agree this sounds fishy. A number of years ago a woman made allegations against Jerome Bettis and nothing ever came of it.

Not saying Big Ben is a choir boy - but there are also those who will go after atheletes for their $$$$$'s.

[Baclava]

25. No criminal investigation planned either

Deputy: No plans to investigate Roethlisberger

RENO, Nev. (AP)—Law enforcement officials in Nevada have no intention of opening a criminal investigation into allegations Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) raped a woman at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino a year ago, the sheriff’s department said Wednesday.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Teresa Duffy said the accuser would have to file a criminal complaint to trigger an investigation into the incident the woman says occurred during a celebrity golf tournament last July while she was working as an executive casino host at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

“The victim is the only one who can do that,” Duffy told The Associated Press. “Unless there was a third party that actually witnessed the incident, which according to the civil case, was not the case here,” she said.


The woman, a native of Canada who had worked at Harrah’s since 2003, never went to the authorities with her story, and it’s unclear why she decided to file the lawsuit seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars a full year later.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-roethlisberger-lawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns

[JonLP24]

7. Smoking Gun has nothing yet

They are pretty good at uncovering pretty much every detail. I did come across this which I thought was pretty funny.

Pittsburgh Steelers 2007 Hotel Requirements

AUGUST 13--Touring rock stars and politicians alike could learn a few things from the Pittsburgh Steelers. When the football team hits the road, hotel personnel are presented with a 17-page document outlining the NFL squad's demands, from chapel services to chicken wings. A copy of the team's 2007 "hotel requirements" rider can be found below. Steelers brass stipulate that players are not permitted to have booze in their rooms, so the rider asks, "please do not stock the mini-bar with alcohol." Additionally, "Room service is not permitted to deliver alcohol to players' rooms." Apparently, if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wants to imbibe, he'll have to do it at the local strip club. However, he'll need to be back in his room before curfew, which will be accomplished with the assistance of hotel security, who "will need a MASTER KEY to open rooms for bed check." After 11 PM, players are not permitted to receive phone calls in their rooms, though they can continue to dial out. On the food front, the Steelers require lots and lots of it, from night of arrival "snacks" to a pre-game meal. And the ketchup on banquet tables "MUST BE HEINZ," due to the Steelers's affiliation with the Pittsburgh-based company (the team plays its home games in Heinz Field). While the hotel rider does not contain any brown M&M demands, the bedroom of team owner Dan Rooney "must have foam rubber pillows." (17 pages)
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0813071steelers1.html

[Algorem]

10. Rubberpillow Rooney's Obama's ambassador to Ireland now.

the Steelers have steroids down to a science now

but they can still make a guy do some stuff

maybe not ernie holmes stuff,but








http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=3203472

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/hyde/blog/2009/01/steelers_and_steroids_1.html

[tabasco]

18. I remember when I was 12.

Grow the fuck up.

[Algorem]

19. what's the matter,did i insult "your" team?

[RedCloud]

9. ???"the 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback stood in front of the day and blocked her"???

He must be really powerful if he can block the day like that.

I bet he at least sexually assaulted himself as a youth.

[cbdo2007]

11. According to TMZ this lady may be a little crazy....

I guess she once told a coworker she was engaged to someone she had never met, from the internet, but it was really a woman with a fake account or something. I don't know, but reading though some of their stuff at www.tmz.com makes me skeptical.

[Dulcinea]

13. This story is downright weird.

Sources connected to the Ben Roethlisberger sexual assault case claim the psychiatric care the accuser says she's under has nothing to do with Ben .... it has to do with a relationship she had with a man who never existed.

http://www.tmz.com/2009/07/21/ben-roethlisberger-sexual-assault-pittsburgh-steelers-superbowl-lawsuit-soldier-mcnulty/

[twitomy]

15. LOL!

Wow, even a man thats a figment of her imagination couldnt make this woman happy...

What DO women want?

[Union Yes]

17. It does have a tabloid vibe to it.

[harry_pothead]

20. I smell BS.

[xchrom]

21. very bizarre experience reading this thread. nt

[brendan120678]

23. "Big Ben" is a massive tool...

but I'll reserve judgment on this issue until we have more evidence.

Edited to add:

J - E - T - S

Jets!

Jets!

Jets!

[Mike Daniels]

24. I call BS if for no other reason than this...

The next night, she said he telephoned her to tell her his television sound system wasn't working and asked her to look at it. She said she was unable to find a technician so she handled it herself because she had been told it was important to please the celebrities."

---------

I can't imagine that a casino hostess is expected to personally handle room complaints. If nothing else, if she couldn't locate a tech wouldn't SOP generally be to report the incident to a manager and have them contact the guest regarding a delay in getting the service completed?

Also, aren't service requests usually logged into a computer so management can track the request and its status/completion?

She mentioned that she was afraid that she'd be fired for making a complaint. My guess is she knows they won't find a service request for that day in the system period so she's trying to find a way justify not reporting the incident.

Granted, we don't know the whole story but based on what her side is so far I don't give her much benefit of the doubt.

[sarcasmo]

26. Since Ben pushes Jesus, will he use the Sanford angle to spin is way out of this mess?