The college student who accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her said she didn’t fight off his advances because she was afraid of his bad temper.
In an harrowing interview with Georgia cops on March 5 — some 12 hours after she said the assault took place — the woman claims resisting would have been futile because Roethlisberger had displayed earlier in the night a propensity to have a short fuse.
The woman did not elaborate on what had made the star quarterback mad earlier in the night or how she knew had a anger issues.
The woman’s statement was released today by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as part of more than 50 DVDs of interviews and photos from the case.
PHOTOS: EVIDENCE FROM ROETHLISBERGER CASE
“I didn’t want .. him to hurt me any more than he was going to,” she told police, according to a taped interview.
The woman, who has not been identified because she is a sexual assault victim, told cops Roethlisberger assaulted her during a late night of partying in Milledgeville.
Asked if he had any marks or tatoos, the woman told police, “He still had his pants and shirt on.”
That’s when, she said, Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her.
“He pulled his penis out of the top of his pants,” she said.
Hours before the attack, the woman said she and a friend spotted Roethlisberger at the bar.
“We took pictures with him. He seemed really nice at first … All these people kept coming up to him,” she recalled.
She said she got suspicious why Roethlisberger would be hanging out in a tiny bar.
“That’s weird. You’re in a college town and you’re 28-years-old,” she told police.
Authorities later determined there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant criminal charges against the former Super Bowl champ.
About five weeks after the woman’s accusation, Prosecutor Fred Bright said that following exhaustive interviews and inconclusive medical exams, the student’s accusations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Bright also said the accuser had asked him not to prosecute.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in April suspended the quarterback without pay for six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Goodell said the 28-year-old’s carousing failed to meet the league’s expectations for player behavior.
Roethlisberger spoke to reporters briefly last week after a Steelers voluntary practice. He said he’s ready to make major changes to a lifestyle that cast him as an example of behavior by privileged pro athletes with a sense of entitlement.
“It’s been neat being able to re-evaluate my life and spend time with my family and re-evaluate and refigure what’s important in life. That’s me,” he said. “Evaluating what I need to do and be smarter when it comes to certain things. It’s a new chapter. I am looking forward to it. It starts with football. I am glad to be back out here.”
Roethlisberger’s lawyer has denied that his client did anything wrong.
Another video that surfaced today shows Roethlisberger partying just hours before the alleged sexual assault.
In the video, posted today on TMZ.com, the quarterback is surrounded by women in a noisy bar. In the video, he can be seen handing out shots and dancing to Miley Cyrus.
The video was purportedly shot by a friend.
With AP