Two of the 22 women who have filed civil lawsuits against Texan quarterback DeShaun Watson were identified during a press conference
HOUSTON – Two of the 22 women who have filed lawsuits against the quarterback of the Houston jeans, Deshaun Watson, Alleging sexual assault and inappropriate conduct gave way to the front in public on Tuesday, during a press conference.
Ashley Solis, Who the lawyer Tony Buzbee she said she was the first masseuse to ask Watson, Spoke at the press conference. Lauren Baxley wrote a letter to Watson which was read by the lawyer Cornelia Brandfield-Harvey.
“I got involved in massage therapy to heal people,” she said Solis. “Heal their minds and their bodies. Bring peace to their bodies. Deshaun Watson it has robbed me of that. It took that away from me, it tarnished a profession in which I find great pride … I suffer from panic attacks, anxiety and depression. I am in therapy as a result of the actions of Deshaun Watson. I hope you know how much pain you have inflicted on me emotionally, and physically. And I hope he knows how much pain he has inflicted on these other survivors. “
“People say I do this just for the money,” he expressed Solis. “That ‘s false. I’ m stepping forward now because Deshaun Watson don’t assault another woman. “
In his letter addressed to Watson, Baxley he wrote, “Every limit from professional and therapeutic to sexual and degrading you crossed it or tried to cross.”
Baxley he said he wrote the letter to the Watson under the recommendation of his trauma therapist to “forgive me for not having spoken before,” and that it was “for you to know without excuse or justification that they have brought deep and irreversible terror to me and others.”
“Initially I took the step to the front to offer solidarity to other women, but since then I have realized that I also deserve justice,” she noted. Baxley. “I hope the court delivers this justice, and that you see yourself stripped of your power and your ability to hurt more women.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the spokesman for the NFL, Brian McCarthy, Described the allegations as “deeply disturbing”, noting that, “we took these issues very seriously”.
McCarthy said the league launched an investigation under its personal conduct policy last month, after the first allegations against it came to light. Watson, And that the NFL “It continues to monitor very closely all developments on the issue.”
A source told Ed Werder of ESPN that the NFL has been in direct contact with Buzbee.
Watson has publicly denied any misconduct, and his attorney, Rusty Hardin, Said last month believing that “any allegation that Deshaun forcing a woman to have sex is completely false. “
Last week, 18 women issued statements through Hardin, Saying they have worked with the quarterback of the Jeans and that “it never made them feel uncomfortable or demanded something outside the spectrum of a professional massage.”
The lawyer of Watson said the statements were voluntary from women who have worked together “with Deshaun more than 130 times in the last five years. “
Tuesday, Buzbee said one of the women who made these statements also sent a direct message to Watson, Saying she stopped working with him because she “listened too much about him posing with other people.”
“They’re two different stories,” he explained Buzbee. “Now, I’m suggesting that these 18 women had bad experiences? I don’t know. I’m suggesting that there was a reason they were publicly revealed? I don’t know. That’s a question for you guys to ask. But what yes I know, it’s what was said publicly by an individual and what was said in private were two different things. “
Buzbee he also said his office “ruled out about five women, for whom we did not believe we could argue a case.”
According to Buzbee, Solis and at least one more of his clients offered statements to police. On Friday, the Houston Police Department said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into Watson after a report was filed.
“As with any allegation, the Houston Police Department is now conducting an investigation and will not comment until later in the investigation process,” the department said in a statement. He did not specify which one he was accused of Watson in the complaint.
Hardin said in a statement later on Friday, that he and Watson “They will cooperate fully with the Houston Police Department.”
“We welcome this long-awaited event,” he revealed Hardin with respect to the police getting involved in the matter. “Now, we will know the identity of at least one plaintiff. We will cooperate fully with the Houston Police Department.”
In a letter sent by Jeans Monday to their fans with season pass that is regularly sent during the spring, the family McNair mentioning the civil lawsuits and the complaint filed with the Houston Police Department, noting, “We want to assure you that we are taking these allegations very seriously.
“While we await the conclusion of these investigations, we express our firm stance against any form of sexual assault,” the letter reads. “Our family and the entire organization of the Houston jeans they are deeply disturbed by any form of abuse, and we condemn such conduct. “