ATLANTA (AP) — Dwight Howard has denied accusations by a Georgia man who says he was sexually assaulted by the previous NBA star and one other individual.
Stephen Harper filed a state civil swimsuit in opposition to Howard in July, alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
In a response filed this week by his legal professional, Howard described the 2021 encounter at his dwelling within the Atlanta suburbs as consensual and requested that the case be dismissed.
Harper’s lawsuit says he met Howard by Instagram and so they exchanged specific textual content messages earlier than arranging to satisfy at Howard’s dwelling on July 19, 2021.
Whereas on his approach to the Gwinnett County residence, Harper says Howard texted him to ask if one other man or girl might be part of their deliberate sexual encounter. Harper says he advised Howard he was not .
As soon as at Howard’s dwelling, Harper claims they had been joined by a person dressed as a lady who recognized solely as “Kitty.” Harper says he tried to withstand the 2 males, however Howard and Kitty pressured him to take part in sexual exercise.
“Mr. Harper was trapped in Defendant’s bed room and believed that he would endure imminent bodily hurt if he resisted Defendant’s sexual advances,” the lawsuit stated. Afterward, “Mr. Harper felt extraordinarily violated and humiliated, and was in full shock.”
Howard denied the allegations in his response, which says the three males agreed to “have interaction in consensual sexual exercise.” He requested for a abstract judgment, with court docket prices and legal professional charges to be assessed in opposition to Harper.
The 37-year-old Howard was an eight-time All Star, three-time defensive participant of the yr and one of many NBA’s most dominant facilities through the prime of his 18-year skilled profession.
He performed for seven franchises, most notably the Orlando Magic — who took him with the No. 1 total choice within the 2004 draft out of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy — and the Los Angeles Lakers, the workforce he was with for his lone NBA title through the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season.
Howard had three totally different stints with the Lakers, together with in 2021-22, his final NBA season. He has profession averages of 15.7 factors and 11.8 rebounds per recreation, main the league in rebounding 5 occasions.
However Howard additionally had the status as being a disruptive presence within the locker room, not spending a couple of season with the identical workforce over his final six seasons within the league. Howard performed in Taiwan through the 2022-23 season.
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Former NBA star Dwight Howard has denied sexual assault and battery allegations filed in opposition to him earlier this yr and requested a court docket to dismiss a civil lawsuit he’s going through in Georgia.
In court docket paperwork obtained by ESPN, Howard stated Monday that he engaged in “consensual sexual exercise” with a person named Stephen Harper throughout a July 2021 encounter at Howard’s Georgia residence. Howard denied that he precipitated any harm to Harper, in keeping with the submitting.
Within the unique grievance filed in July, Harper’s attorneys stated he and Howard first started corresponding over direct messages on Instagram in Could 2021, with Harper initiating the change. Harper accused Howard of sexually assaulting him at Howard’s dwelling through the subsequent July 2021 encounter.
“We absolutely anticipated Mr. Howard to boost the problem of consent in his Reply,” Harper’s legal professional, Olga Izmaylova, advised ESPN, including that Harper didn’t consent.
Harper’s grievance additionally accused Howard of “intentional infliction of emotional misery” and false imprisonment. Howard’s response denied these allegations.
“What was a non-public consensual encounter was made public for revenue and Mr. Howard appears ahead to bringing the reality to mild in a court docket of legislation,” one in every of Howard’s attorneys, Justin Bailey, advised ESPN. “The allegations in opposition to Mr. Howard are contested. Mr. Howard intends to current the reality. The reality is Mr. Howard blocked Mr. Harper on social media after which was confronted with two choices ― pay to guard his status or have a fabricated story made public. Regardless of being a simple goal as a result of material and his standing as a celeb, Mr. Howard selected to belief within the justice system and can depend on all future court docket filings to talk for themselves.”
Harper’s grievance consists of screenshots of alleged Instagram exchanges between Harper and Howard from 2021, together with an Uber receipt of Harper’s journey to Howard’s residence on the night time of the encounter.
Harper went to police a yr later, in keeping with a July 2022 incident report from the Gwinnett County Police Division, which was obtained by ESPN. No fees had been filed.
“This report was made following Mr. Harper being blocked on social media and after the primary demand for cost was rejected,” Bailey stated.
In Georgia, the statute of limitations for submitting this kind of civil lawsuit is 2 years from the date of incident.
“We had some unbiased investigation to conduct and Mr. Harper had some non-public components to think about,” Izmaylova stated, “earlier than all of us felt able to proceed with the lawsuit.”
Howard, 37, final performed within the NBA in 2021-22 with the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s an eight-time All-Star and a three-time NBA Defensive Participant of the Yr.
