Rose’s alleged victim delayed reporting to police

By A.J. Perez

The attorneys for Derrick Rose claimed in court documents that the woman who has accused the New York Knicks star of rape reported the alleged sexual assault to police more than two months after she filed her lawsuit.

 “Ms. Doe went to the LAPD in December 2015 and the LAPD opened a criminal investigation at that time that has not since resulted in criminal charges,” Courtney Palko, one of Rose’s attorneys, wrote in the 28-page filing. “That separate investigation will independently run its course. It does not change the fact that no criminal charges have been brought.”

The filing made in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday was a response by the alleged victim’s lawyers’ efforts to keep her identity anonymous. U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ruled earlier this month that he wouldn’t close his courtroom to protect the identity of the woman.

The woman alleges Rose and two of his friends sexually assaulted her in August 2013 while she was incapacitated. Los Angeles police Det. Nadine Hernandez wrote in a letter to the alleged victim’s attorney last week that the investigation into alleged sexual assault was still active.

That letter, which was included in a filing by the alleged victim’s attorney on Sunday, was “an effort to smear Mr. Rose without regard to the evidence, pollute the jury pool,” Palko wrote.

“The media has a tendency to sensationalize short letters that say ‘investigation’ without regard to whether any arrest or charges have been filed,” Palko wrote in the filing. “Suffice it to say that no arrest has occurred, no charges have been filed, and the LAPD letter very much appears to be the product of a strong desire on the part of Ms. Doe and her counsel to curry favor with the media in an effort to extort a settlement and put pressure on the LAPD to obtain an advantage in this civil proceeding,.”

It’s not unusual for victims of rape to wait years to report a crime, which has played out in the alleged victims coming forward in recent years to make allegations against actor and comedian Bill Cosby and former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2013 that it’s believed only 15.8% to 35% of persons who are victims of sexual assault report the crime to police.

Source: MSN Sports