Bucs’ Winston is sued by sexual-assault accuser
TAMPA — Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston has been sued by the Arizona Uber driver who has accused him of sexual assault by groping her in March 2016.
The woman — identified only as Kate P. in the federal court papers — is seeking more than $75,000 in damages after she said Winston grabbed her crotch in the drive-through of a Mexican restaurant.
Tuesday’s development comes weeks after an eightmonth NFL investigation determined that he touched the woman “in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent.” It also comes as Winston — who has not been criminally charged in the incident — approaches the final game of a three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
“She is unimpressed by his continued lack of honesty or awareness into his behavior,” Kate’s attorney, John Clune said. “Maybe a more direct financial penalty will get his attention. He needs to learn from this and have some genuine insight or pay the penalty.
“She knows that she might be just a speed bump for him in his football career, but she is not going to be a small one.”
The suit — filed in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Arizona —features little new information but reiterates previously reported details of the allegation.
When Kate stopped at the International Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., around 1:41 a.m., one of the men who approached her car called her hot and encouraged Winston to sit up front, according to the suit.
Kate alleged that Winston “became belligerent” and swore and used racial slurs out the window during the drive. The suit said that Winston “did not appear to be very intoxicated.”
After Winston requested a burrito, Kate P. drove him to a Mexican restaurant. She did a Web search for Winston on her phone and recognized him as the passenger, according to the suit.
While they were waiting on his food, Winston reached over without warning, “placed his fingers between her legs and pressed them firmly against” her genitals, over her yoga pants, according to the suit. Kate P. looked at him and asked, “What’s up with that?” before Winston removed his hand, the suit alleges. She then dropped him off at the Camby hotel.
She texted her boyfriend that she “just got semi molested by the Tampa Bay Buc QB,” and that she reported the incident to Uber the next day. Winston said he didn’t recall the incident in a conversation recorded by Uber, according to the suit.
Kate came forward with her story last fall amidst the growing #MeToo movement.
After denying the allegations against him for seven months, Winston released a statement after his June suspension saying, “I genuinely apologize” to the woman. The NFL investigation, citing both testimony and evidence such as phone records, said her account was “consistent and credible.”
An NFL statement said that in addition to missing three games, Winston, 24, will be required to “obtain a clinical evaluation and fully cooperate with any recommended program of therapeutic intervention.” Failure to do so will result in additional punishment, “including a potential ban from the NFL.”
Winston, who won a national title and the Heisman Trophy at Florida State, is not allowed to have any contact with the Bucs during his three-game suspension.
Tuesday’s suit mentions Winston’s “history of sexually hostile behavior” and that he “appears to be no closer to understanding the impact of his conduct.” It alleges that Kate’s damages include “emotional distress as well as future therapy expenses” and that she is due “exemplary or punitive damages to punish and deter such conduct.”
Winston’s latest off-field headline comes two days after the Bucs knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles to improve to 2-0 with Ryan Fitzpatrick starting in Winston’s absence. Tampa Bay hosts the Steelers next week on Monday Night Football and will play at Chicago in Winston’s first week back.