His alleged victim claims that Florida State University violated Title IX requirements to investigate her rape case, and deliberately hindered the Tallahassee Police Department’s investigation so Winston’s football career wouldn’t be jeopardized. It was also announced Wednesday that Winston will leave FSU to enter the NFL draft.
Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston during the first half of the 2015 Rose Bowl.
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The woman who alleges that Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston raped her has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the school's trustees Wednesday. She claims that the school violated her rights by not investigating the incident as required by Title IX, and that they deliberately hindered the police's investigation.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Orlando, the alleged victim, who is listed as Jane Doe, asked for a trial by jury and damages from the school, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Winston is FSU's star quarterback. On Wednesday, ESPN reported that Winston will be leaving the university for the NFL.
A spokesperson for Florida State told BuzzFeed News the school had no official statement, and said she had only just found out about the lawsuit on social media.
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Winston's alleged victim claims that Winston raped her at his off-campus apartment in Dec. 2012. When she got home the next day she tweeted "SOMEONE HELP ME," before reporting the rape and going to the hospital.
She maintains that the school deliberately ignored mandated Title IX policies, and intentionally delayed the Tallahassee's Police Department's investigation "so that Winston's FSU football career would be unaffected."
Had FSU . . . instead complied with its own policies and federal law by promptly investigating plaintiff's rape and sanctioning Winston while protecting plaintiff's safety, Winston would have been removed as a threat to plaintiff long before ever suiting up to play football in a Seminoles jersey, and plaintiff would be on campus progressing toward an FSU degree ... Instead, plaintiff was forced to leave campus while Winston remains, having suffered no consequences.
Winston claims the encounter was consensual.
Last year, Florida's state attorney chose not to charge Winston with a crime. In Dec., 2013 Florida Supreme Court justice Major B. Harding determined said there wasn't enough evidence to indict Winston.
