A former New York City police officer who serves as a Yankee fitness
coach has been questioned in connection with a sexual-battery incident
that took place this month at a Florida hotel, police said yesterday.
Brian McNamee, 34, an assistant strength and conditioning coach, has
not been charged, but St. Petersburg police said they have questioned
him about an Oct. 6 incident where “it looked like he was having sex
with a woman” in a hotel swimming pool.
Police said a hotel manager found McNamee, an unnamed Yankee employee
and the 40-year-old woman naked at around 4 a.m. in the outdoor pool of
the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg.
Rick Stelljes, a police spokesman, told The Post the manager saw
McNamee and the woman in a sexual position in about 3½ feet of water.
“The manager said it looked like he was having sex with the woman,”
he said. “That’s when the manager questioned McNamee and the woman cried
out, ‘Help me.'”
McNamee, who came to the Yankees from the Toronto Blue Jays two years
ago as Roger Clemens’ personal trainer, declined comment yesterday when
asked about the incident.
The other Yankee employee, a videographer, is considered a witness
and not a suspect in the case, Stelljes said.
Detectives are also looking into how the woman ingested gamma
hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, an odorless substance commonly used as a
“date-rape” drug.
Stelljes said the woman, who was not a guest at the hotel, didn’t
know McNamee or the other Yankee employee before that evening, but had
met the fitness guru at the hotel bar that night.
McNamee, who wears No. 58 and lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens, was in
St. Petersburg with the team on Oct. 5 for a three-game series against
the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Bronx Bombers stay at the Vinoy when they
play the Devil Rays.
Lou Colasuonno, a partner at Westhill Media Strategies, a
public-relations firm that represents McNamee, said his client would be
cleared of any crime.
“There is no truth to any of these claims,” he said. “Brian is a
highly regarded employee of the Yankees and a decorated New York City
police officer. When this investigation is concluded, it will clear him
of any wrongdoing.”