Roethlisberger accused of sexual assault
So who says that the off-season has to be boring?
Steelers fans have been craving news about their beloved Black and Gold. Unfortunately, this is probably not the news that they were hoping for.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been named in a civil lawsuit that alleges that he sexually assaulted a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in July 2008.
“This weekend, Andrea McNulty served Ben Roethlisberger with a civil complaint accusing him of sexually assaulting her in July 2008″, said Atlanta-based sports attorney William David Cornwell Sr. “Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone, especially Andrea McNulty”.
“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”.
I don’t want to take sides on this matter. After all, sexual assault is a serious matter. The courts will decide Roethlisberger’s guilt or innocence. However, it amazes me that in this “post-Kobe era”, that high profile athletes and entertainers still find themselves having sexual encounters with hotel employees. Didn’t the Kobe Bryant incident teach anyone anything?
According to TMZ.com, “Roethlisberger and McNulty had a sexual liaison at the time but Ben insists it was purely consensual. We’re told the two knew each other because Ben had stayed at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe over the last several years for golf tournaments — and she worked at the hotel”.
According to the civil suit, McNulty, who works at the hotel, was asked by Roethlisberger to repair a broken TV. Roethlisberger allegedly blocked her exit from the room and sexually assaulted her.
Once again, it is not my job to determine guilt or innocence in this matter. However, if it is true that Roethlisberger did have sex with her (consensual or non-consensual), then he is not very bright. After all, he is a famous athlete with a $100 million contract. He has to scrutinize every potential sexual liaison with the assumption that an unscrupulous person may try to separate him from his money. I am not saying that Ms. McNulty falls into this category. Rather, I am saying that rich, famous celebrities need to assume that EVERYBODY falls into this category, and protect themselves accordingly.
Am I the only one who remembers Jerome Bettis being accused of similar charges by a woman in 2002? Of course, those charges were dropped and Bettis was exonerated. Nevertheless, that case should have served as a warning to all professional athletes that they are potential targets. If it didn’t, then the Kobe Bryant case and the Mike Tyson case certainly should have.
The ironic part of this whole matter is that the lawsuit was filed in Reno, Nevada, a city that is famous for it’s legal prostitution. I’m not condoning prostitution as an acceptable alternative. But if an athlete finds himself in Nevada and he needs to get some, well……..
Training camp begins in 10 days. Hopefully, this will not become a distraction for Ben or the other players. Unfortunately, I don’t see how it can serve as anything but a distraction.
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I think this a bad joke, and now all the Steeler haters are coming out of the wood works. Look, if you are raped, you go to the cops, hospital for injuries INSTANYLY and they take DNA evidence. None of this took place (there is STILL no criminal complaint on file to this DAY), but yet ONE YEAR and another Super Bowl title later, this “woman” comes out and claims she wants half a million for damages?? Yeah, but it’s clearly not about the money, honey, right?
1Im probably going to get pilloried for this. If Ben woulda just kept his pants zipped this whole thing wouldn’t have come about. Gasoline and matches increase the chance for a catastrophic fire. He gave the gold digger an opportunity.
2Hell has know fury then a woman scorn!July 2008! Is this not a little late. Maybe he should press criminal charges against her if he is exonerated. If someone is truly raped they report it right after or a couple days or something. I do not blame Ben for being human remember he’s still young. I hope all the allegations are false and she is just a woman scorn.I feel that its just another obstacle that he has to overcome. He should hold his head up, and continue being the athelte that he is. Evidently they have cameras everywhere so she’ll get paid off. I just do not know why she would wait a year. The Steeler fan in me will have to be silent, but the Christ in me will pray for Ben and the girl. I hope the lord resolves this matter in all fairness to both parties. Steelersrule2009
3makaveli-VERY GOOD! Your post should be required reading for all involved.
4Clearly, the timing and “narrative” of this lawsuit are simply too good to be true. Either we’re looking at an attempt to make a quick buck (by the “plaintiff”), or we’re seeing a major distraction being tossed at the Steelers’ feet right before training camp (another way to make money?). Sheesh! Let’s hope this is resolved as quickly as is possible. The likelihood of these allegations being true is between super-slim and black-hole-nonexistent. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but this sounds like some pretty strange fiction.
5I have been a HUGE steeler fan since my earliest years and since the cowher years have praised their ability to stay mostly above reproach.
Now,to be honest I am sick of the whole thing!! I honestly don’t know why i devote so much of my life to college and professional sports.
There is so much self satisfaction, ego driven character in a majority of these players that honestly i don’t know if i can stomach it anymore!
These players accept being high profile role models when they agree to play on this stage and recieve the millions of dollars afforded them by the fans. And their constant stupidity and selfishness is continuing to fly in our face as fans.
Ben is probably not guilty of the charge but rather is guilty of being one more of many players without regard or appreciation of the fans.
6Tony, IF Roethlisberger is innocent, how is he guilty of being a player without regard or appreciation of the fans?
You charge athletes, and by extension Ben, with being ego-driven, etc.; he is the one being charged and yet you have made this ALL about you. Please. Self-involved much?
I don’t know why you devote so much of your life to sports either if it is such a source of dissatisfaction. Further, I don’t see how you do so as you only seem concerned with your allegedly unmet needs. You sound high-maintenance.
7Even if they both had sex…I am more than sure she consented to it. It takes 2 to tango.Right!
I do not see Ben holding her there against her will….He has been going there for years…all of a sudden he is a rapist! NONSENSE! He is more level headed than that. What we have here, in my opinion, is a very wealthy athelete being set up (FRAMED)! The COURT SYSTEM IN AMERICA IS SET UP FOR THE WOMAN TO BENEFIT…NOT THE MAN. ASK ANY MAN IN A DIVORCE OR LAWSUIT!
Has anyone ever asked that maybe she tried to get some sex from Ben. He refused ….she blocked the door and threatened to yell rape if he didn’t give it up! DO NOT LET A WOMAN DECEIVE YOU …They are good at playing the..”INNOCENT-VICTIM CARD. Has anybody ever watched..GIRLS GONE WILD! WOMEN LIKE SEX JUST AS MUCH….”IF NOT MORE” THAN MEN! You GUYS can google all these stories on the internet!
8Uhhh, Jeff. You’re verging on being a bit sexist there, aren’t you?
I understand your points, and some of them are valid. However, you might not want to paint things with such a broad brush. You are obscuring the valid points that you make with all of the blatant generalizations.
9I’ve read many comments, both here and on other websites, where people proclaim that since she waited over a year to file her suit, she must be making it all up. That is not necessarily the case.
Statistics show that many (most) women who are raped either delay reporting it, or never report it at all.
Once again, I am not saying that Roethlisberger is innocent, nor am I saying that the woman is simply seeking money. I don’t know if either is true.
The fact that she filed civil charges but didn’t file criminal charges does make me wonder. If I were a woman who had been raped, I think I would be more interested in seeing the rapist punished than I would be in getting money from him. But that’s just me.
10this is serious bull shit. ben would never do anything like this and why the hell would u wait a year to tell anybody?? this makes no sence. ben can get any girls he wants haha. and to prove it you got to tell police the instant after you got “raped” and so they can get dna. no reason to wait over a year to file a complaint. he’s innocent. and i rest my case!!!
11there is NO way ben did this. she is just a money grubbin ho*…. she said he did this when? 2008.. A YEAR AGO, and shes now saying something about it! whatever she just wants money!
12On my above comment….I apologize to any women out there that read my post. I am angered over this whole accusation. If Ben truly committed this crime why didn’t she seek criminal prosecution over the money? The fact that Ben is loaded with cash and is a high profiled athlete is grounds to go after money and a lawsuit. I ask the commenter s here would the case be different if Ben was an average guy without any money or any assets to go after…Good luck trying to get an attorney!
**** Once again ladies Archie Bunker apologizes. I love you all.
13Michael,
LOL. boy i struck a chord with you obviously. High maint. im not. (sorry about the yoda talk)
All im saying is that he put himself in that situation to be framed, if that is what happened. People who are not living a little on the loose side and in the fat lane dont get involved in such charges.
Why is it that most do not want to begin discussion on the pink elephant. McNair might have appreciated that we started this type of discourse years ago. what a tragedy that our desire to create stars that have spun out of control is hurting so much people.
now i ask, who is high maint.?
14Tony, Although the high-maintenance comment was intended to be a joke, a tension-breaker, in case you decided to take my comments as a personal statement about you-which they really can’t be as I do not know you-you do not appear to be aware of what is meant by the phrase.
High maintenance women, for instance, look to the man to take care of everything, more specifically, to MAKE them happy. Your original comment implied that you required someone, in this case an athlete to make you happy or at the very least that an athlete’s failure to live up to your expectations made you unhappy. That is high-maintenance.
Only you can ‘make’ you happy. Only you can change you, no one else. By the same token, you can only change yourself, no one else. You can’t fix what is wrong with athletes or other people in general or make them be happy. You can only fix how you react to/interact with them.
Would it be a terrible crime if Ben were guilty? Yes. Is it morally questionable even if it was consensual? In MY little world, yes it is but I can’t fix Ben or society and as I am not perfect I am in no position to decide what is right, anyway.
I am about one generation removed from the time in which Ben grew up. So, is he living loose and in the fast lane? Perhaps, I don’t know. I don’t know all the facts. Neither do you. Even if I did, I am in no position to sit in judgement. Neither are you. (He who is without sin…) However, with all the temptations out there for a young, famous, rich athlete, if all Mr. Roethlisberger did was to make the mistake of speaking to this woman or even of having consensual sex with her, (As we don’t actually know what happened.) I have to refrain from passing judgement. It’s not my place and in any case if I were in his shoes would I live the faultless life of a monk myself? Doubtful.
McNair’s situation is different. Even in our modern world, it is generally recognized that those who are married are off the market whether they choose to behave that way or not. If I find out that a woman I am interested in is married, I am done with her. But Mr. McNair’s errors in judgement though they be many do not mean that he deserved death. You say that people who do not live this lifestyle don’t get involved in these sorts of things. ARe you that naive? How many people are falsely accused? How many people are killed for no better reason than that he ‘looked at me funny’ or ‘he had a nice watch, pair of shoes, car, etc.’ He might have chosen to forgoe her attentions and she might still have acted as she did because of his rejection.
Bottom line, nothing in your second comment answers my original comments, the crux of which is, “IF Roethlisberger is innocent, how is he guilty of being a player without regard or appreciation of the fans?” (Why are you so anxious to judge? Why must you be appreciated by him?) or leads me to believe that you do not place too much emphasis on the place of others in your well-being. Just saying.
On another issue, do you believe that Michael Vick should be allowed to play in the NFL again? And most importantly are you a Steelers fan and for how long?
15Michael,
Wow, sounds like we need to get togehter and have a beer at the white house too. lol
i only have time to answer one of your questions right now so i will answer why i must be appreciated by him and maybve it can answer both of your questions in the next to last paragraph.
i assume (correct me if im wrong) you are not a business owner. If you were you would understand why it is important to be appreciated by an employee. In fact, employees should appreciate their employers! without them they have no job.
should a restuarant and its employees appreciate their customers? should lawyers appreciate their clients? (many do not and thus the publics opinion of them as a whole), etc…
Michael, these men have been vaulted to riches because of us the fan and no other reason. their talents and hard work would mean very little if there were no fans willing to pay what we do to go see them. there is a reason for the nfl’s conduct policy. it is a business not a game. if we want it to be a game again then let’s remove all compensation.
vick? he has paid his penalty, let him play if a team is willing to take the chance. but does he deserve one? yes i believe so. would i want him as a steeler? no. don’t need the distraction and cetainly do not need kordell again. ha
im a 31 year steeler fan! been to many games (with noll, cowher and tomlin). i just feel that the nfl is inching closer and closer to becoming like the nba.
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