Lions’ Patricia says he was ‘falsely accused’ of assault
ALLEN PARK, MICH. » Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia said Thursday he was “falsely accused” in a 1996 sexual assault allegation that resurfaced this week, and he indicated that the matter has not been an issue as he has climbed from job to job since.
Patricia held a brief news conference one day after a
report that he and a friend were indicted 22 years ago by a Texas grand jury on one count each of aggravated sexual assault. They were accused of assaulting a woman on South Padre Island. The accuser did not testify and the case was dismissed.
“I was innocent then, and I am innocent now,” Patricia said.
The Lions said a pre-employment background check did not turn up the incident. The team said Patricia was 21 at the time and on spring break in Texas. The Lions said they were standing by Patricia.
An NFL spokesman said Thursday the league “will review the matter with the club to understand the allegations and what the club has learned.”
“I’m here to defend my honor and clear my name. Twenty-two years ago, I was falsely accused of something very serious,” Patricia said “There were claims made about me that never happened. While I’m thankful on one level that the process worked, and the case was dismissed, at the same time, I was never given the opportunity to defend myself.”
Patricia took a few questions but did not provide details about the day in question.
The Detroit News, citing a March 1996 story in the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, said Patricia and a friend were accused of entering the hotel room where the woman was sleeping and sexually assaulting her. The men were arrested later that night and released on bond, according to the story and court records. The indictment came that August, but the case was eventually dismissed.
Tessitore, Witten, McFarland, Salters on ESPN ‘MNF’ crew
NEW YORK » Joe Tessitore calls his new gig at ESPN a “legacy job.” Jason Witten notes he’s joining “another iconic franchise.” Booger McFarland says it’s “the pinnacle of what we do.”
They are the three new voices who will work ESPN’s Monday night games this season.
Tessitore has been one of the network’s top announcers for 16 years on boxing, college football and basketball, including calling the College Football Playoff semifinals the past two years. It will be his first NFL assignment.
“I am very conscious of that lineage,” says Tessitore, who at 46 is the oldest member of what he calls “a young, vibrant crew.”
Witten, one of the sport’s finest tight ends for 15 seasons and a likely Hall of Famer, retired from the Dallas Cowboys earlier this month to move into the booth. McFarland, who won two Super Bowls as a player and has been an analyst for ESPN and SEC Network for four years, will be the first fieldlevel analyst for “Monday Night Football.”’
Ex-player: Police fabricated evidence for gun charge
ELIZABETH, N.J. » A former NFL linebacker’s career was cut short after authorities in New Jersey fabricated evidence linking him to a gun used in a shooting, the player alleged in a lawsuit filed this week.
The Elizabeth police department and Union County prosecutor’s office “willfully ignored and were deliberately indifferent to overwhelming evidence” that Khaseem Greene hadn’t provided the weapon used in a shooting outside a nightclub in Elizabeth in December 2016, Greene says in the suit.
The Chiefs released Greene in May of last year, the day that charges against him were reported.
Two months later, a gun charge against Greene was dropped after an audio recording surfaced of the accused shooter telling detectives he lied about Greene’s involvement in the shooting.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses the police and prosecutor’s office of “simultaneously manufacturing and fabricating false evidence in order to charge Plaintiff with a crime he did not commit.”
A spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office declined comment Thursday.