Derrick Rose has denied the rape allegation against him and has not been charged with a crime © AFP/File / Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
LOS ANGELES, United States, Oct 7 – A woman accusing NBA star Derrick Rose and two friends of raping her wept as she testified in her $21.5 million lawsuit against the New York Knicks guard.
The woman, who paused when Rose entered the court room in the midst of her testimony, became emotional as she told jurors that Rose, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton entered her apartment as she slept and took turns sexually assaulting her.
She contends they had earlier slipped a drug into her drink at an August 2013 gathering at Rose’s rented mansion in Beverly Hills.
She had gone home and gone to sleep when they arrived uninvited hours later.
All three defendants have denied the allegations, saying that any sex with the woman was consensual.
Although her recollections of the event appeared sketchy, the woman said she has memory “flashes” of Rose “undressed … at the edge of my bed,” and Allen “on top of me” and Hampton also “undressed … near my bed.”
Under questioning by her own attorney, the woman said that when she awoke the next morning her dress was in a knot around her neck and sexual lubricant was on her legs. An “open condom” was on the floor, she said.
“I was scared because I didn’t know what happened,” she testified.
The woman didn’t report the alleged incident to police until 2015. Court documents show that Los Angeles police opened an investigation. Her lawsuit was filed in August of 2015.
Lawyer Michael Monico, on behalf of Hampton and Allen, told jurors in opening statements on Wednesday that “there was no gang rape, there was no rape at all.”
Rose has denied the allegation and has not been charged with a crime. His attorney Mark Baute has painted the lawsuit as a “fake case” in which the woman was seeking a “lottery hit” of a financial payout.
Asked by Baute why she did not immediately go to the police with her suspicions on the morning after, the woman said she didn’t want to hurt Rose.
“I just (didn’t) want to be responsible for any outcome,” she replied. “I cared for him and (didn’t) want to be responsible for something that would be a really bad outcome.”
The woman said she had dated Rose sporadically beginning in 2011, but that the basketball star had broken off their relationship about two months prior to the alleged assault.
The plaintiff also told Baute that she never told Rose that she thought he had raped her.
Rose is expected to be called to the stand after the plaintiff wraps up her testimony. The trial continues on Friday.
Rose, a former NBA Most Valuable Player with the Chicago Bulls, was traded to the Knicks this season after spending seven seasons with his hometown club.
