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Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig issued a statement on Tuesday denying allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in the bathroom at a Los Angeles Lakers game back in 2018, but on Wednesday the accuser fired back calling the All-Star’s claim that their encounter was consensual "false and defamatory."
Puig issued a statement on Twitter responding to a civil lawsuit where a woman, identified as "Jane Doe," alleged that Puig assaulted her in a bathroom at the Staples Center in October 2018.
She claims he followed her into the bathroom, grabbed her and sexually assaulted her. In the lawsuit, the victim claims she had no contact with Puig before the alleged incident.
But Puig and his attorneys fired back this week, denying all allegations.
"Let me be clear and set the record straight once and for all: These allegations are totally false, the evidence proves they are false and I look forward to all the facts and the truth coming out," Puig said in his statement.
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"The fact is that I had consensual sex with a woman I met at a Lakers game after she propositioned me," he continued. "Afterward, we talked about going out together but she said she did not want her fiance to find out. We messaged each other afterward and planned to get together again but we never did. She’s now suing me based on completely made-up allegations."
Puig’s attorneys claim that the woman actually initiated contact with the ballplayer on Instagram and provided him with her cellphone and intentions to meet. After the incident, his attorneys say she also exchanged "affectionate and endearing messages" with plans to meet again.
Attorneys defending the victim issued a statement on her behalf, slamming Puig’s claims they engaged in a consensual encounter.
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"I am an out and proud lesbian and have been during my entire adult life," the statement, obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer, read. "My female fiancée and I were enjoying a Lakers game at the Staples Center when this attack occurred. The notion that I would leave my fiancé, and run off into a bathroom, so someone I did not know could do this to me, or do something worse, is demeaning and ridiculous."
Puig’s attorneys claim Jane Doe waited two years to file the lawsuit as a way to prevent evidence from being collected, but her attorneys say they were obtained within a year of the alleged incident and were asked to hold off on filing by Puig’s legal team.
Puig played six seasons with the Dodgers before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. He then played one season with the Cleveland Indians and has remained a free agent since.
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