Adrien Broner sued over sexual assault in Cleveland nightclub
There may be no end to Adrien Broner’s legal troubles.
A month after the welterweight boxer pleaded guilty to assault and unlawful restraint for forcibly kissing a woman at a Cleveland nightclub, an Ohio law firm announced the victim is suing him over the same incident.
The lawsuit reportedly includes claims for assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil liability for criminal acts. The victim, who is proceeding under a pseudonym, is seeking economic, non-economic and punitive damages against Broner.
Why is Adrien Broner being sued?
The specific incident Broner is being sued for — specification is needed because he was accused of another assault in Atlanta last year — occurred on June 9, 2018 at Park Social, a nightclub in Cleveland.
The victim, who said she had never met Broner, accused the boxer of approaching her as she sat with two other women on a couch in the crowded nightclub, thrusting himself onto her, pinning her down and forcibly kissing her. The woman and her friends were reportedly unable to pull Broner off of her, and they say he only moved after a bystander threatened to take a picture.
Broner was originally charged with felony sexual imposition and abduction, then agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault and unlawful restraint and to pay a fine to cover counseling for the victim. Now, the victim is looking for more punishment for the boxer.
From the law firm’s press release:
The victim's lead counsel, Ashlie Case Sletvold, said, “While we may never know why Mr. Broner decided to walk up to a perfect stranger and attack her, we do know he did a better job of keeping his hands to himself during the Pacquiao fight than he did at Park Social. Women have a right to exist in public spaces without being manhandled. The brave women who take a stand against this type of abuse are helping to bring about a world in which everyone’s bodily integrity is respected.”
In addition to the two sexual assaults he’s been accused of, Broner has encountered trouble for threatening to shoot gay people in a homophobic rant on his Instagram story and has been a wanted man in Florida multiple times for failing to appear in court over a 2017 speeding arrest.
It has also been more than two years since Broner last won a fight, losing to Manny Pacquiao and Mikey Garcia and drawing against Jessie Vargas.
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