Yesterday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) released photos and videotapes of witness interviews compiled during its investigation of a college student's claim that she was sexually assaulted by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting the college student during a late night of partying in the small Georgia town of Milledgeville on March 5. Prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to warrant criminal charges, but the quarterback did receive a six-game suspension from the NFL for his behavior.
In my opinion in this situation, the police have no right to be releasing these pictures and video for the public to view. To my knowledge, this has never happened in the past with anyone else. Why choose to release these now?
I am in no way condoning Roethlisberger’s behavior, but he has not been formally charged at all in this case. Until this occurs, no evidence from the case should be released. We have seen all types of athletes accused of rape, and not one of them have been prosecuted, which means there wasn’t strong enough evidence to deem these people guilty.
Roethlisberger spoke to reporters briefly last week after a Steelers’ voluntary practice. He said he's ready to make major changes to his lifestyle. He’s ready to put this incident behind him, and releasing these photos and videos just make this all the more difficult.
Andrea Kunicky is an Associate Account Executive. Contact her at andrea@maroonpr.com.
Nice blog Andrea...I agree that there cannot be seperate legal guidelines for athletes and for everyone else and if it isn't standard practice to release this stuff they shouldn't do it now. That said, it seems very much like the guy did some bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your point of view, Andrea.
ReplyDeleteWhat the GBI did is completely legal and they have a right to release evidence. The video isn't nearly as bad as the Sworn Statements. The thing is, this man has a name and it is Ben Roethlisberger. It is for public consumption. Previous examples of this are all over Detective shows on TV.