The media often decides what criminal behavior is forgotten and what is talked about forever.
You can never bring up Michael Vick without someone talking about dogfighting, but in the case of Ben Roethlisberger, the media rarely speaks on his very credible sexual assault accusations. While you are always innocent until proven guilty, and Roethlisberger has never been charged with a crime, he did pay off two accusers to make sure they didn’t cooperate with the police.
The NFL suspended him for those accusations.
It is a catch-22 situation because you can’t bring it up every time a player does something after a certain point. No one speaks on Tyreek Hill beating his pregnant girlfriend at the time every time he makes an amazing play, and it was very distasteful for people to bring Kobe’s accusation up after he tragically passed away.
With that being said, with Big Ben retiring, this is a part of his story.
The young woman who accused Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault said she tried to get away from the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and told him “no, this is not OK,” according to police documents released Thursday.
In a statement to police on March 5, the 20-year-old college student said Roethlisberger encouraged her, and her friends, to take numerous shots of alcohol. Then one of his bodyguards escorted her into a hallway at the Capital City nightclub, sat her on a stool and left. She said Roethlisberger walked down the hallway and exposed himself.
“I told him it wasn’t OK, no, we don’t need to do this and I proceeded to get up and try to leave,” she said. “I went to the first door I saw, which happened to be a bathroom.”
According to her statement, Roethlisberger then followed her into a nearby bathroom and shut the door.
“I still said no, this is not OK, and he then had sex with me,” she wrote. “He said it was OK. He then left without saying anything.”
Multiple witnesses backed up the woman’s claim, and she immediately went to the police. The police were actually in Roethlisberger’s pocket at the time, so you can see how the case got muddled right quick.
Ann Marie Lubatti told police she approached one of Roethlisberger’s two bodyguards and said, “This isn’t right. My friend is back there with Ben. She needs to come back right now.”
She said the bodyguard wouldn’t look her in the eye and said he didn’t know what she was talking about. The GBI later identified that bodyguard as Ed Joyner, and the GBI also determined that the man who led Roethlisberger’s accuser down the hallway was Anthony Barravecchio. Joyner is a Pennsylvania trooper and Barravecchio is an officer on the force in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis.
The other credible accusation that was also settled was a housekeeper at the hotel that Roethlisberger was staying at.
Once again, Ben paid to make this go away.
Lawyers for Ben Roethlisberger and a woman who accused him of raping her at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino in 2008 have reached a settlement that ends her civil lawsuit against the Steelers quarterback.
The woman was a VIP casino hostess at Harrah’s when she said Roethlisberger allegedly lured her to his room under the pretense of fixing his television. Roethlisberger was in town at the time to play in a celebrity golf tournament.
Roethlisberger showed her the television that was malfunctioning, located in suite’s bedroom. Using the remote, she determined that there was no problem with the television or the sound system. She claims that, as she tried to leave the room, Roethlisberger blocked her path, and that he “grabbed [her] and started to kiss her.”
She claims that she was “shocked and stunned that this previously friendly man, that appeared to be a gentleman in her previous contacts with him was suddenly preventing her from leaving, was assaulting and battering her.” McNulty admits that she didn’t try to fight Roethlisberger, citing his size and strength. She claims that she “communicated her objection and lack of consent,” and that he nevertheless began “fondling [her] through her dress and between her legs.”
She claims that he pushed her onto the bed, and despite her alleged protests he “pulled her underpants off and proceeded to penetrate her.” McNulty claims that she told him, “You don’t want to do this.” She also claims that she said, “Please don’t,” and that she told him she was not on any type of birth control.
She claims that he said in response, “Don’t worry, I’ll pull out,” which he ultimately did.
These were the only two claims that had criminal and civil attachments to them, but there were rumors going all the way back to Ben’s college days there could be more victims and more payouts.
After these claims and realizing he could have gone to jail for a long time, Roethlisberger settled down, got married, and had three kids. For more than a decade now, he hasn’t had any trouble with the law and, by all accounts, has been an outstanding citizen. Still, social media will always remind him of what he was credibly accused of, and that is fair, especially considering how others are treated for far less.
You tell me what accusations seem more serious, the ones about Antonio Brown or Big Ben?
Flip the pages for social media having “BIG RAPE” trending on the day of his retirement and his retirement video.