Roethlisberger accuser said she was afraid to fight back has 0 comments

Jun 9th 2010, 20:11 | FFN-Score: 16 points

The college student who accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her said she didn't try to fight him off because he appeared to have a short temper earlier in the night.

"I noticed throughout the night he kind of had like a short temper, like he would get really like defensive," the woman told police in her second interview with them on March 5, about 12 hours after she said the assault took place. She didn't further elaborate on what made her think the quarterback had a short temper.

The accuser's interview was among more than 50 audio and video recordings released Wednesday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Prosecutors determined there wasn't enough evidence to warrant criminal charges after the investigation concluded.

One of the new videos shows Roethlisberger smiling, giving people high-fives and pumping his fist at the club where the woman said she was assaulted.

The accuser, 20, was interviewed twice by police -- the first time shortly after she made the accusation early March 5 in the small college town of Milledgeville, about 80 miles southeast of Atlanta. The second interview was about 12 hours later at the Milledgeville police station.

The woman sounded intoxicated when she spoke with Milledgeville officer Jason Lopez during the first interview. Her words were slurred, and she even said at one point, "Obviously, I'm drunk." An audio recording of that interview was made.

During the first interview, the woman said she repeatedly told Roethlisberger, "I really don't think this is OK," but couldn't stop him from having sex with her in the bathroom of a bar.

"I don't know what I can ... do," she said. "I'm a little girl, and he's a big boy."

The next afternoon, she went to the police station for a follow-up interview that was videotaped. She was calm and matter-of-fact when discussing the alleged attack, struggling to remember a few details from the previous night but adamant that she had been raped by Roethlisberger.

In the video, the woman's face was blurred. She was wearing a navy blue T-shirt and jeans, and she had her blond hair pulled back. She told police she didn't think trying to fight Roethlisberger would stop the assault.

"I figured it wouldn't help anything," she said. "I didn't want, obviously, him to hurt me any more than he was going to."

The new videos include the first extensive comments by the woman that have been made public, though written statements she gave investigators have been released. She has declined interview requests. The Associated Press generally doesn't name those who say they were sexually assaulted, and authorities haven't released her name.

In April, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the quarterback without pay for six games for violating the NFL's personal-conduct policy. Goodell said Roethlisberger's carousing failed to meet the league's expectations for player behavior.

Roethlisberger spoke to reporters briefly last week after a Steelers voluntary practice. He said he's ready to make major changes to a lifestyle that cast him as an example of behavior by privileged pro athletes with a sense of entitlement.

Roethlisberger also is being sued in Nevada by a woman who said he sexually assaulted her there in 2008. There were no charges brought in that case.

Roethlisberger's attorney has denied that the quarterback did anything wrong in Georgia, where he owns a lake house near Milledgeville.

One of the new videos showed Roethlisberger partying at the club where the accusation was made. The shaky 49-second video, shot by a member of Roethlisberger's entourage, showed the quarterback wearing a black Nike baseball cap and black T-shirt with a devil's face on it.

Most of what Roethlisberger said was drowned out by loud music in the club, but he can be heard asking a girl what her drink tastes like.

Roethlisberger repeatedly gave high fives to people off camera. When the friend shooting the video asked him to say hi, he struck a pose, punched his fist in the air twice and flashed a huge grin at the camera.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press