San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, wide receiver Quinton Patton, and Seattle wide receiver Ricardo Lockette will not face any criminal charges arising from a strange incident that occurred at Miami’s Viceroy Hotel in the early hours of April 2nd. According to the 911 call that was released last month, Lockette called the Miami police to inform them that there was a young lady in his friend’s bed that would not leave when asked. Hotel security also called the police, as the alleged unwanted visitor was nude, screaming and referring to herself as Jesus while refusing to leave the Viceroy’s premises. She was taken to a nearby hospital strapped to a gurney.
This week, Miami police revealed that there was no evidence of any sexual assault or other injuries, and despite her reported odd behavior, nothing besides marijuana and alcohol were found in her system (and the drugs used to sedate the woman at the hospital). Consequently, there was no evidence available to press any criminal charges against Kaepernick or anyone else in the hotel apartment. The woman could not remember all of the night but corroborated some of what the players told the police according to a memo released by the Prosecutor.
In this particular case, it appears as though the players did the right thing by asking the authorities to intervene. This woman had prior sexual relations with Kaepernick, and had exhibited abnormal behavior by lying to him about being pregnant with his child. It could have potentially escalated to a much more dangerous situation. But I find myself constantly disappointed by the reaction to these types of stories, especially involving male sports athletes speculated of committing sexually violent crimes. Regardless of your opinion on Kaepernick, false accusations of rape are nothing to laugh about, even if you don’t like the guy. Conversely, my guess is actual crimes against women perpetuated by attractive and/or rich athletes go unreported by the media and are handled outside of the criminal system. All we are left with from these instances of women that just turn out to be either obsessive or advantageous opportunity seekers (remember Kobe, anyone?) is a public constantly speculating if future women who come forward are also crying wolf.
Topically, sexual crimes are ugly enough as it is, but combined with media sensationalism and professional sports they are a recipe for disaster for a courtroom and difficult for a jury to digest. I blame part of it on the hetero-normative stereotypes that run our country. I also blame it on our inability as human beings to have meaningful conversations about sexual violence, and professional sports for not being more vocal against it. Furthermore, we need to accept that just because a professional athlete is in the spotlight, they’re not going to remain celibate just so we don’t have to talk to our kids about sex. Why is it so hard for us to conceptualize that these athletes do the same things we do (except for maybe members of the clergy)? They go out, they have fun, and they engage in certain activities that we may also choose to enjoy in the privacy of our own homes that usually don’t end up on TMZ.
For some reason, we’ve become more comfortable acknowledging sexuality in America and even in our professional sports, but when something like this happens it just ends up on the heretical desk of Nancy Grace [read: there’s no educational or meaningful discussion by the media]. Misogyny is no stranger to the professional sports world, but it might as well be a four-letter word. Let’s find a way to talk about it.
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