Ben Rothlisberger (Allegations, Suspension, etc.)

[crownsy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5094224

Wow. dragged her to the bathroom by the hair and set up his bodyguards outside.

I never wish Ill on people, but it's REAL tough in Ben's case not to wish for his career to go down the toilet, at the very least.

edit: the typo on the title of the thread had been driving me nuts. - Chris

[guava_wrench]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

[Rondo_is_better]

Cute.

This guy is a dumb meat-head who uses his fame to live out his twisted vision of the good life.

[crownsy]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

The problem with that is that he would have to terrorize another innocent women and we would have to hope his money couldn't bail him out of that one.

I always wish for justice, but in this women...young girl really, case it's passed since they don't have any corroborating evidence that the sex was non-consensual.

Guy is just such a scum bag...even if he's not a rapist, since apparently she was too drunk to know what was going on, he's still a sexual predator. I'll hope for justice, but the way athletes get away with things, my hopes are low

[Fan from VT]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

The problem with that is that he would have to terrorize another innocent women and we would have to hope his money couldn't bail him out of that one.

I always wish for justice, but in this women...young girl really, case it's passed since they don't have any corroborating evidence that the sex was non-consensual.

Guy is just such a scum bag...even if he's not a rapist, since apparently she was too drunk to know what was going on, he's still a sexual predator. I'll hope for justice, but the way athletes get away with things, my hopes are low

Agreed, except that what you stated above IS rape, and we need to stop pretending it's not.

[crownsy]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

The problem with that is that he would have to terrorize another innocent women and we would have to hope his money couldn't bail him out of that one.

I always wish for justice, but in this women...young girl really, case it's passed since they don't have any corroborating evidence that the sex was non-consensual.

Guy is just such a scum bag...even if he's not a rapist, since apparently she was too drunk to know what was going on, he's still a sexual predator. I'll hope for justice, but the way athletes get away with things, my hopes are low

Agreed, except that what you stated above IS rape, and we need to stop pretending it's not.

Oh I agree, i was more getting at that because she (and friends confirm) that she was really drunk, she can't provide proof of lack of consent that would hold up in court.

Nor, i suppose, proof that should condemn ben for all time (i threw up in my mouth writing that, but innocent till proven right?)

She says she thinks she remembers saying no, but her high level of intoxication makes her memory pretty open to attack by a defense lawyer :/

[Rondo_is_better]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

The problem with that is that he would have to terrorize another innocent women and we would have to hope his money couldn't bail him out of that one.

I always wish for justice, but in this women...young girl really, case it's passed since they don't have any corroborating evidence that the sex was non-consensual.

Guy is just such a scum bag...even if he's not a rapist, since apparently she was too drunk to know what was going on, he's still a sexual predator. I'll hope for justice, but the way athletes get away with things, my hopes are low

Donte Stallworth KILLED A GUY and spent a month in jail.

[celticinorlando]

big ben is a tool. he pulled this act all the time at Miami U

[connerhenry43]

Wish for justice then instead of wishing ill.

The problem with that is that he would have to terrorize another innocent women and we would have to hope his money couldn't bail him out of that one.

I always wish for justice, but in this women...young girl really, case it's passed since they don't have any corroborating evidence that the sex was non-consensual.

Guy is just such a scum bag...even if he's not a rapist, since apparently she was too drunk to know what was going on, he's still a sexual predator. I'll hope for justice, but the way athletes get away with things, my hopes are low

Donte Stallworth KILLED A GUY and spent a month in jail.

trust me, i am not here to defend donte stallworth or his actions. however, there was no intent on his part, and if you read his side of the story as told to peter king, to some extent, you can understand what happened. no denying his punishment was light, but stallworth has accepted blame and has not deviated one bit from the fact that he did a very bad thing.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/04/05/mcnabb/1.html

Big Ben seems to be acting like a drunken frat kid, but with millions of dollars at his disposal. the more that comes out, the worse it seems. i am a big patriots fan, but i have always liked big ben and thought very highly of him as a qb (even though i do not like the steelers one bit). i even gave him the benefit of the doubt after the first incident. i do not know if he is guilty of any crime here, but at the very least he is guilty of poor judgment, and unlike stallworth, does not seem to be accepting any blame.

[angryguy77]

My problem with this is that it seems to be a his word against her's and there really is no proof of rape. What I would like to know is why her friends didnt't do anything about it at the time if they suspected soemthing bad was going on. Call the police or bartender or bouncer if you think your friend is being taken advantage of. I have a hard time thinking ill of him because there is no evidence of a crime other than some weak accounts imo. It doesn't mean that nothing happened, but this is too hard to say for sure.


I will say that if he did indeed raped her, this won't be the last time he does something like this and he wont be so lucky nextime.

[crownsy]

My problem with this is that it seems to be a his word against her's and there really is no proof of rape. What I would like to know is why her friends didnt't do anything about it at the time if they suspected soemthing bad was going on. Call the police or bartender or bouncer if you think your friend is being taken advantage of. I have a hard time thinking ill of him because there is no evidence of a crime other than some weak accounts imo. It doesn't mean that nothing happened, but this is too hard to say for sure.


I will say that if he did indeed raped her, this won't be the last time he does something like this and he wont be so lucky nextime.

This is his second time. He's been lucky due to fame twice, we can only hope on the third time.

Here's the actual police statements and reports

http://deadspin.com/5518136/the-roethlisberger-documents-his-penis-was-already-out-of-his-pants

as you can see, the above is explicit.

As to your question about here friends, according to the report, they did try to tell the bartender and were pretty much told "whatever. He's an NFL QB..." by the owner.

There was no other way they could have gotten to her. according to her friends the timeline was:

-Drunk Girl dragged off
- told bartender they couldnt get to her in the bathroom because of ben's bodyguards at the door, he told them to forget about it and calm down
- friend comes out 10 minutes later, tells them he raped her
- they find the first cop and report it.

So, assuming that her friends are telling the truth, not really sure what they could have done. the're pretty much saying the bar was on board with taking care of ben.

Which, i have to say, makes sense given what we know about this bar and ben's relationship with it. doubly so given the fact that the surveillance tape "accidentally" taped over  before police could seize it.

[CoachCowens]

My problem with this is that it seems to be a his word against her's and there really is no proof of rape. What I would like to know is why her friends didnt't do anything about it at the time if they suspected soemthing bad was going on. Call the police or bartender or bouncer if you think your friend is being taken advantage of. I have a hard time thinking ill of him because there is no evidence of a crime other than some weak accounts imo. It doesn't mean that nothing happened, but this is too hard to say for sure.


I will say that if he did indeed raped her, this won't be the last time he does something like this and he wont be so lucky nextime.

Maybe not enough proof for a court of law. But what is the victim gaining by alleging rape? Her story was awfully elaborate and specific to be made up. I thought he might be innocent before this. But he is a lowlife. I hope they suspend him for the year.

[TAllen]

Like every other athlete I could care less what they do off the field/court as long as it isn't illegal and apparantly Ben didn't break any laws that he can be charged with so I just want to watch him play football.  He's a great quarterback who has won 2 superbowls.

[KungPoweChicken]

I doubt this is true.

[yall hate]

Like every other athlete I could care less what they do off the field/court as long as it isn't illegal and apparantly Ben didn't break any laws that he can be charged with so I just want to watch him play football.  He's a great quarterback who has won 2 superbowls.

There is a huge difference between not breaking any laws and not being charged.

like the Stallworth incident, this would have been very hard to prove at trial (hence the very light stallworth penalty)