Alabama fan indicted for sexual assault against passed out LSU fan
The Alabama fan infamously caught on film sexually assaulting a passed out LSU fan in a Krystal restaurant on Bourbon Street following the BCS National Championship, has been indicted on sexual battery and obscenity charges by a grand jury.
Brian Downing, 32, was one of many Alabama fans taunting the LSU fan, who had had too much to drink and was left incapacitated with his head on a counter at the burger establishment. But once Downing unzipped his pants, exposed himself and began rubbing himself against the LSU fan's neck, that's when the taunting went too far.
Downing turned himself in on Jan. 19 after Heath Taylor, the sheriff of Russell County, Ala., recognized the then-unidentified assailant as his cousin, Downing.
The judge set Downing's bond at $50,000 and an arraignment is set for Monday. The alleged victim also filed suit against Downing. In the suit, the LSU fan said he suffered "mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety and depression… damage to reputation" and lost tuition payments "for having to withdraw from school."
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro plans to prosecute Downing for what he called an incident far worse than a drunken prank.
"The DA has been consistent that this is a sex crime," said Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Cannizzaro. "It's a crime of violence, and he takes the prosecution of those crimes very seriously."
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