Was she supposed to wait till the season was over? If she really wanted to screw him she would have filled at the beginning of training camp.
And yet he didn’t get along with Roethlisberger?!
At least until *after *notifying the police.
Damn! You beat me to it.
Not really. When would have been a time to file this that couldn’t be interpreted that way?
Its a civil action. What do the police have to do with it?
Rape is a crime, as you may have heard. Was it ever reported?
My favorite part of the story (as reported by ESPN):
Pray or prey? :dubious:
Two things though… First, these aren’t old claims. The alleged incidents occurred in 2017 and 2018. It’s not like she is claiming this happened in college. And even if they were old, it’s not unusual for a sexual assault victim to be nervous about reporting a crime. There is still a stigma against victims (which is horrible) and there is shame involved. Plus if you accuse a rich and famous person, they can afford a strong defense and now all of his fans are your enemies.
As far as whether or not filing it now was strategic, I’m sure it was and that was smart. This was filed at a time when everyone has been hearing about how erratic he is. He is particularly vulnerable and you strike when the iron is hot. Also, if you think the timing was meant to hurt him (career-wise) and was vindictive, I’m sure it was. But if I was a sexual assault victim I’d probably be a teeny-tiny but vindictive myself, wouldn’t you?
I don’t think the timing in any way casts doubt on the allegations. The truth about them (whether they happened or not) should be borne out through testimony, evidence, and investigations.
She can make herself file a lawsuit, with all the pending publicity, but is too nervous to tell the police? What’s the normal reaction by someone who’s been assaulted - to call 911 or to sue?
All of which would have been brought out by a police investigation. Without that, who’s gonna do it and what’s gonna be the admissible evidence?
So why wasn’t any of it reported? There’s a possible reason that doesn’t fit your views. This may be real, but there’s at least good reason to suspect otherwise.
I don’t think it’s odd for her to wait, but I do think it’s odd for her to bring a lawsuit while not going to law enforcement. An interesting analysis of the case is here:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/09/11/patriots-antonio-brown-accused-sexual-assualt-former-trainer
The article is by SI’s legal analyst. He does point out that the fact that this is a lawsuit and not a criminal accusation means that to the NFL, it has a “lower burden of persuasion” and that “a civil lawsuit should not be regarded as the equivalent of a criminal charge”.
Yeah, you might well go the civil route because sexual offences that occurred in private between people who knew each other are typically hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Just because it’s a crime and the statute of limitations hasn’t run out doesn’t obligate a victim to go solely the criminal route or that route first.
Also the civil court system exists on the idea that victims might be entitled to monetary compensation (and not only money directly taken from them), not just the knowledge that the wrongdoer has to go to jail.
So on both counts filing a civil suit before criminal charges doesn’t IMO by itself make the accusations suspect. And like the article says, the local authorities could then follow the civil case and pursue criminal charges if they think they can make them stick.
But the charges could be untrue or not wholly true. How would any of us know that? Just saying, the idea ‘the person wants money’ isn’t that relevant in itself. If the allegations are true and the person suffered, why shouldn’t they get money from a wealthy wrongdoer if the law allows it? The question is whether it’s (wholly) true.
Regardless of whether these allegations are true, Brown is an ass and I wish he were not on my home team. If they do turn out to be true, he should be fired immediately, arrested, and never allowed to play football again. But without a real criminal investigation, I don’t know that we’ll ever know, so he’ll likely stay on, unfortunately. Blech.
I’ve been as harsh on AB as anyone else in this thread, but this lawsuit and the allegations don’t really pass the smell test for me. The timing of the lawsuit WRT the timing of when the incidences happened is just too much of a coincidence for me.
I’m not saying I believe either party…but I’m definitely :dubious:
I’m not going to stand here and attack the accuser. This stuff happened a long time ago which doesn’t invalidate them of course. However, claims from 1-2 years ago ARE old. It’s is of course not uncommon for these things to not make it to the police or courts quickly.
BUT, announcing this right now, at this point in the middle of this giant professional shit-storm he created for himself is weird. Not in the offseason, not while he was on Hard Knocks, not after he “lost” $90M+ from the Raiders, but instead right after he gets bailed out by the Patriots financially with a $15M deal…that’s eyebrow raising.
The accuser wants financial compensation, evidenced by the civil court filing and not criminal, and they very publicly announce this suit right when he gets money but before he’s able to do something else horrible and lose it again. It’s at the very least tactical, which doesn’t make for a very sympathetic victim.
Strategic timing, to me, doesn’t say anything about the merits of the lawsuit. Neither does not going to the police. I doubt they’ll win, though. There have been some texts from AB that don’t help his image or countersuit, but I think ultimately only the lawyers make money.
Reading those texts, I now know that I despise the reprehensible human being named Antonio Brown. He admits to jacking off on her back, he’s a complete mysognistic asshole, and I really look forward to him lying in a pool of his own drool with constant headaches at age 48.
Also bordering on illiterate.
So it appears Belichick and Brady got their feelings hurt at their respective press conferences yesterday. When Bill tried his patented “I already answered that” response to a question, the CNN reporter shot back “No you didn’t” and repeated it. Bill, shocked that a reporter didn’t just back down immediately because he knows his job depends on access to the Patriots, ended the conference and walked off the stage.
When Tom was asked about the accused rapist he had invited to stay with him, he just replied “Things that don’t involve me, don’t involve me.”