A University of Washington rower says she found out in April that she was sexually assaulted in December, after friends told her they had seen cellphone video of the incident, a police affidavit says.
The university said Wednesday it has suspended two male members from the rowing team while the allegations are investigated, and University of Washington police filed a search warrant asking to access the Apple iCloud accounts of both suspects to see if evidence of the crime exists.
The alleged victim came forward to university officials in April, and campus police say the case is under investigation but no charges have been filed.
According to a police affidavit, the incident occurred in a dorm room at the university’s Seattle campus in December after those involved attended various parties.
The victim alleges she met the two male rowers back in the dorm room, and the last thing she remembers about the evening was lying next to one of the male rowers on his dorm bed, according to the affidavit.
She said she does not remember anything after that, but woke up the next morning, “hungover and still drunk,” the affidavit says. She asked one of the male rowers “what happened last night” and, according to the affidavit, she says his response was that he didn’t know.
She said she began hearing rumors after the incident, according to the affidavit. People were saying things like, “Oh I heard you had a lot of fun with XXX and XXX [names withheld],” she recalls, according to the affidavit. She says she confronted them and both denied anything had happened, the affidavit says.
She says she first found out about the incident on April 7, when she was hanging out with two former members of the crew team, and they mentioned there was a rumor going around about what happened on that December night, according to the affidavit.
The alleged victim attempted to dismiss those rumors, and it was then she was told there was a video of the incident, and both the former crew team members had seen the video, according to the affidavit.
The alleged victim says she spoke with several other members of the rowing team, who said they had heard that video of the incident had been circulating since December, according to the affidavit.
On April 10, the alleged victim and her mother met with campus police to file a sexual assault report with authorities.
The University of Washington said: “We are aware of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct involving two members of our men’s rowing program. Both students were suspended indefinitely from the program pending the outcome of the investigation. We take these matters very seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure the safety, health and well-being of our students. As the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide further comment at this time.”
