Posted on 09/06/2002 11:19:11 AM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
Bettis has a "heavy heart" because of assault accusation
Friday, September 06, 2002
By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, who is being investigated in a sexual assault case, made a brief statement to reporters as he arrived for practice this morning at the team's South Side headquarters.
"Unfortunately, due to the situation, I can't speak about the issues at hand. But I do want to let everyone know, the people of Pittsburgh know, that today I have a heavy heart because of the situation. It's been a very difficult time for me."
A 22-year-old Westmoreland County woman accused Bettis of attacking her in his sports utility vehicle Aug. 21 after they met in a Greensburg tavern. The woman filed a report with Greensburg police, who questioned Bettis last night. No charges have been filed.
"I'm going to do as best I can to fully cooperate and do everything I can do to aid in this situation so that we can see the situation through," Bettis said today. "I'm doing everything that I can possibly do to make sure that happens."
Steelers Communications Coordinator Ron Wahl said neither team President Dan Rooney nor vice president and general counsel Art Rooney II would comment on the case. Wahl issued a statement on behalf of the team:
"Jerome Bettis has earned an impeccable reputation as a member of our community. We believe him when he says he did not engage in the alleged conduct."
How do you "sexually assault" a person with a car?
Him and Cowher hug a lot and I think at least once on the sideline one gave the other a European-style man-to-man cheek kiss, and from this has spun this urban legend about Kordell being gay.
I never believed it for a minute.
Woman accuses Bettis
Greensburg police query him on charge of sexual assault
Friday, September 06, 2002
By Cindi Lash, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Greensburg police last night interviewed Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis regarding a report filed by a 22-year-old Westmoreland County woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her last month.
Bettis, 30, yesterday denied assaulting the woman.
"I want to be clear that I deny that I engaged in any sexual misconduct or criminal acts," Bettis said yesterday.
"I am fully cooperating with the investigation, and I am confident that the investigation will conclude that I did not engage in the alleged conduct."
Bettis and his attorney, Robert Del Greco, would not comment on Bettis' whereabouts on that night or on details of the woman's account.
Del Greco said Bettis complied with requests from police for an interview last night and also took a polygraph examination.
Del Greco said Bettis also agreed to allow police to search the car he was driving on Aug. 21 -- the night the woman's report was filed -- although he did not drive that car to the interview. That search is to be conducted today, Del Greco said.
"Jerome conclusively passed a lie-detector test that was administered by detectives from the Westmoreland County district attorney's office," Del Greco said. "I think it's fair to say that we've complied with every request made by Greensburg police."
The woman's name is not being released because the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify possible victims of sexual assault. In her report to police and in an interview, the woman said Bettis assaulted her in a car after she met him in Bobby Dale's Restaurant & Lounge, a popular nightspot in the Greensburg Shopping Center on the city's east side.
Greensburg police said the woman said she initially met Bettis in the bar earlier in August and asked if he'd autograph a football for her 2-year-old son if she brought it to the bar.
"I knew who he was," she said last night. "I used to watch the Steelers all the time, although I won't now."
On the night of Aug. 21, two days before the Steelers left their training camp in Latrobe, the woman said she saw Bettis when she visited the bar with companions. She said the football was in her car and Bettis accompanied her and signed it in the parking lot.
The woman said Bettis then asked her if she wanted to get into his car to talk for a while. She said he "seemed like a very nice guy" and she wasn't afraid to get into a silver Land Rover with him.
But then, she said, "he just took off" and drove out of the parking lot. She said he drove to Urania Avenue and forced her to perform oral sex.
When she initially balked at doing so, the woman said Bettis told her "You better not fight. You better not do anything." She said he pushed her from the front to the rear seat, bruising her legs in the process.
The woman said Bettis then drove back to Bobby Dale's, let her out in the parking lot and drove away. She said she went into the bar, crying, and her companions called police.
The woman filed her report at 11:45 that night and was examined at Westmoreland Regional Hospital. The woman said she has not retained an attorney and has not had any contact with Bettis, anyone representing him or anyone from the Steelers since she filed her report.
The woman and other members of her family said yesterday that they are upset and angry that police did not move more quickly to question Bettis and others who were in the bar that night or to investigate her report.
"He did sexually assault me and I am not happy with how everything is being handled by the police," the woman said. "If it were anybody else, they would have talked to him right away. It's been three weeks and I've been in there [for questioning] twice, but it seems they aren't doing anything because it's him."
Greensburg Police Capt. George Seranko said that investigators had been unable to immediately interview Bettis because he had been tied up with football and they were unable to reach him. Police Chief Richard Baric also said that police were waiting for results of tests performed on evidence sent to the state police crime laboratory before questioning anyone else involved in the case.
Baric said yesterday that police expected those interviews to occur in the next four days. Bettis' interview had been scheduled for next week but it was moved up to last night after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contacted him and police about the woman's report.
Baric said the woman who filed the report has been "relatively consistent" in her interviews with investigators but said his department's investigation is far from finished. He said investigators could not file charges without obtaining approval to do so from District Attorney John Peck.
He denied that his department was slow to question Bettis.
"I've been in law enforcement for 25 years and I know what dragging feet is," he said. "We're not dragging our feet. We expect things to be moving in the next four days or so."
Sports writer Ed Bouchette and staff writer Dennis B. Roddy also contributed to this report.
P.S. GO BROWNS!!!!
It says "in", not "with" - meaning they were in the vehcile when the alleged assault happened.
Yip. That little troll statement{false) always gets the "D" to react. ;)
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