Jameis Winston is now facing a lawsuit from the woman who says she was groped by the quarterback while driving him for Uber’s service in March 2016.
Winston is currently serving a three-game suspension from the NFL for violating the league’s conduct policy with his involvement in the matter. Winston has not been criminally charged, but the NFL investigated the matter and found the woman’s account to be consistent and credible.
Apparently upset over Winston’s seemingly flippant dismissal of the matter, the woman hired an attorney to file a lawsuit in hopes of getting him to understand the extent of his wrongdoing.
“She is unimpressed by his continued lack of honesty or awareness into his behavior,” the woman’s attorney, John Clune told the Tampa Bay Times. “Maybe a more direct financial penalty will get his attention. He needs to learn from this and have some genuine insight or pay the penalty.
“She knows that she might be just a speed bump for him in his football career, but she is not going to be a small one.”
The woman is seeking damages for “emotional distress as well as future therapy expenses” and that she is due “exemplary or punitive damages to punish and deter such conduct,” the Tampa Bay Times says.
Winston was at a club with friends in Scottsdale, Ariz. in March 2016 and they called an Uber for him to be driven home. He was said to have been intoxicated at the time. Winston told the driver he wanted a burrito, so she drove him to a Mexican fast food restaurant. She says he leaned over and put his hand/fingers on her genitals while they were in the drive through line. The woman immediately challenged him over his violation, saying, “what’s up with that?” He removed his hand after that. She contacted Uber to report the incident the following day.
Winston originally strongly denied the allegation. He even had a friend back him by saying they were in the Uber together and that nothing happened. However, another friend claims there were two separate Uber rides — one earlier and one later in the night — and that the alleged violation occurred in the later one where Winston was alone with the driver.
Winston was also the subject of very public sexual assault allegations when he was in college at Florida State. He was not criminally charged in that case, but he ended up settling a civil suit and countersuit with the woman out of court.
