Ben Roethlisberger (Allegedly) Did A Bad Bad Thing
By chris
So much for things happening in Vegas, staying in Vegas.
QB Ben Roethlisberger has been named in a lawsuit by an employee of Harrah’s Casino in Reno, Nevada (d’oh!). The lawsuit accuses Ben of sexual assault. Yeah, I can’t believe I’m typing these words either.
A woman by the name of Andrea McNulty has filed a lawsuit against Ben and eight (?) other men alleging an assault occurred in July 2008. No details have been released so far but this sounds like something that should be starring Jodie Foster, not Ben Roethlisberger. The suit is civil litigation, which means it’s about money, as opposed to criminal charges which could carry jail time. In fact, no criminal charges were ever filed in conjunction with the alleged incident which is going to make a lot of people doubt the validity of the lawsuit.
Roethlisberger’s lawyer has already issued a stern denial.
I’m not going to make any judgments until I hear the facts of the case. However, whenever a rich and famous athlete has a one nighter with some groupie he picks up at a bar this is the risk they take. There are literally dozens of examples, from Kobe Bryant to Randy Moss, of athletes being accused of some sort of sexual assault. In almost every one, the case magically went away after the “victim” was written a big check to help soothe their physical and mental anguish.
What’s shocking about this is it’s Ben. I mean, the above photo aside, Ben’s never had a reputation for hard partying. He’s never made it rain at any strip club I know of. And believe me, I know them all. He’s always been the big goofy jock who’d rather hang out with the boys than go clubbin’. Of course, his national exposure has been increasing steadily the past year and there are negatives which go along with that, as Ben is finding out now.
I had a feeling this offseason had been way too quiet for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After winning the Super Bowl in 2005, Ben obliterated his face in a motorcycle accident. Now in 2009, he’s accused of sexual assault. I knew it would be something with him but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be this.