Civil suit accuses Colts DT Foster of attack

A civil suit accuses Indianapolis Colts player Eric Foster of sexually assaulting a college student on the morning of the AFC Championship Game in January, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

The complaint filed in Marion Circuit Court in Indiana specifies four counts against the defensive tackle: sexual assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Foster has appeared in 29 games in two seasons with the Colts, starting 16. He made three tackles in the Colts' 30-17 victory over the Jets in the 2010 AFC Championship Game.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said in February he would not pursue criminal charges against Foster, but attorney April Board told the newspaper that the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Police Department mishandled the case and forced her client to seek justice in civil court.

''It's so far afield from the standard operating procedure of any police department -- I don't care if it's the tiniest town in Indiana or New York City,'' Board said. ''It's unbelievable.''

The woman was an employee of University Place Hotel on the college campus at the time of the alleged incident. The Colts customarily stay there the night before home games.

The Colts declined comment, and Foster's agent, Joby Branion, did not respond to an interview request from the newspaper. An IUPUI dispatcher said a spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The complaint says the woman was asked by a hotel manager to deliver a dental kit to the player's room at approximately 8:20 a.m., at which time Foster asked her to look at his bathroom sink, which he said wasn't working.

''She went in,'' Board said, ''and he slammed the door, and then proceeded to forcibly engage in deviant sexual acts.''

The woman escaped from the room and reported the incident to a hotel security official, Board said.

Board said a hotel employee told her client that day that the incident report had been accidentally deleted from the computer system, but a security official did contact a Colts security staffer.

The woman reported the incident to Indianapolis Police, who redirected her to IUPUI Police. The college police took an initial report but did not ask to keep her hotel uniform to examine it for possible evidence. They also asked her to take a lie detector test, Board said, although Indiana law says sexual assault victims do not have to submit to one.

''They didn't take the uniform. They don't talk to Eric Foster. They don't look at surveillance film. They don't cordon off the room and look for evidence, either,'' Board told the paper. ''These cases are hard enough to prosecute when you do everything right.

''Even the tiniest little town in the middle of nowhere knows the basics of when a sexual assault is reported.''