Erika Davis, a former field hockey player at Michigan State University who was allegedly raped by Larry Nassar in 1992, has filed a lawsuit against the university for trying to cover up the claim.
Davis got injured while playing hockey in 1992 and went in to see Nassar that spring. According to the lawsuit, Nassar has a cameraperson film the appointment and ask her to participate in a “flexibility study through the College of Osteopathic Medicine” during her first appointment.
A week later, Davis went in for a second appointment when Nassar gave her a crushed up pill in a drink. She originally thought it was for her injured knee. The former athlete became dizzy and couldn’t move. She recalls Nassar raping her while she was in a daze.
Davis reported the incident to her coach shortly after and the coach retrieved the videotape from Nassar and told the athletic director George Perles about the rape.
Perles terminated the coach, demanded that Davis return the tape and then sign a non-disclosure agreement about the allegation.
According to the lawsuit, Davis attempted to report the rape to the police shortly after.
“The detective explicitly told them that he was powerless to investigate anything that takes place to the athletic department and to go to the athletic department… Plaintiff Erika explained that the athletic department already dismissed it and the Sergeant responded that George Perles is a ‘powerful man,’ and she should just drop it,” court documents said.
Davis said that she was forced to just forget about the rape. However, her memories of the incident resurfaced when she saw herself in one of Nassar’s training videos on TV.
The lawsuit states that Michigan State University had a chance to prevent hundreds of girls and women from getting sexually assaulted by Nassar if they acted appropriately in 1992.
MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant released a statement regarding the lawsuit.
“We are deeply sorry for the abuses Larry Nassar has committed and for the trauma experienced by all sexual assault survivors,” she said. “Sexual abuse, assault and relationship violence are not tolerated in our campus community.
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