Dayton senior forward Dyshawn Pierre has been suspended by the university in the wake of a sexual assault allegation from a fellow student.
On Wednesday, Pierre’s lawyer spoke out against Dayton’s decision to suspend the star player following an accusation that did not lead to a criminal charge.
“Ignoring that decision made by qualified professionals, the University of Dayton subjected Dyshawn to fundamentally defective and unfair university disciplinary procedures orchestrated to appease a broken Department of Education policy,” New York attorney Peter Ginsberg said in a statement, per Josh Sweigart of The Dayton Daily News. “We will be challenging the university’s handling of this matter in the near future.”
The alleged victim reported the incident in May and claimed it took place on campus in the early-morning hours of April 23. She has accused Pierre of sexually assaulting her while “she pushed at the suspect and told him to stop.” Pierre has denied that the incident took place, and prosecutors concluded their investigation in June and declined to press charges “due to insufficient evidence.”
Pierre says he had sexual relations with the accuser but insists there was consent.
“At no time, did she by words or actions ever indicate that she was an unwilling participant,” Pierre wrote in a statement. “I never held her down so it was impossible for her to get away, or held her down in any way. I never told her to or demanded that she do anything. Everything we did was totally consensual.”
The woman said she did not wish to file criminal charges against Pierre but did not want to see him go “unsanctioned completely,” according to The Dayton Daily News.
Pierre averaged 12.7 points and 18.1 rebounds per game for the Flyers last season. Some of you may be familiar with him from this embarrassing play during the NCAA Tournament. Since Pierre is not enrolled in classes for the fall semester, he would not be eligible to play until December. If he returns, he would miss at least 10 games.
H/T Eye on College Basketball
Photo: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
