NBA, Kings shut Walton sexual assault case
Investigators for the Sacramento Kings and the NBA decided that, based mostly on obtainable proof, there was “not a adequate foundation to assist” the sexual assault allegations made in opposition to Kings head coach Luke Walton.
In response to a Friday assertion from the Kings and the NBA, Kelli Tennant, who alleged that Walton sexually assaulted her in 2014, didn’t take part of their investigation.
Tennant, a former host on Spectrum SportsNet LA, the Lakers’ regional sports activities community, filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Walton in April. Throughout a information convention, Tennant mentioned that Walton assaulted her in a Santa Monica, California resort room. Walton was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors on the time.
“Out of nowhere, he acquired on prime of me and pinned me all the way down to the mattress and held my arms down with all of his weight whereas he kissed my neck and my face and my chest,” Tennant mentioned at an April information convention, including that when she requested him to get off, “he laughed at me.”
Walton mentioned in an announcement Friday that he’s “100% targeted on teaching the Sacramento Kings, and energized to work with this unimaginable group of gamers and coaches as we begin the preseason. I’ll haven’t any additional remark.”
Walton mentioned in a court docket transient filed again in July that the allegations in opposition to him should not backed up by info and are designed to draw media consideration. Walton’s court docket submitting claims that Tennant filed a lawsuit practically 5 years after the alleged assault, which the transient calls a “nice encounter,” after she stop two jobs and wanted cash.
The Kings and the NBA launched a joint investigation into the allegations in April. The investigatory crew was led by Sue Ann Van Dermyden, from the Sacramento legislation agency Van Dermyden Maddux, and Elizabeth Maringer, senior vp and assistant basic counsel of the NBA.
The investigation is taken into account closed except new proof turns into obtainable, the Kings and the NBA mentioned in Friday’s assertion.