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There is video of her voluntarily pulling her top down on her own. Think Mardi Gras.
Does it matter if she later pulled it down on her own? They are her boobs. Her slapping his hand away was not a good look. How stupid do you have to be to do this when you still have a sexual assault investigation against you no less.
Doesn't matter. She can do what she wants with her ####, he cannot. It's 2017 now. I don't like the degree to which it gets taken sometimes, but I don't disagree with the concept. This should be a misdemeanor charge and he should get a suspension by the NFL. If you don't take a stand on the little things they become big things.
Is there audio? If she asked him to it would.
It's assault.
Yes, we only have a snip of the entire encounter but, again, what she was wearing/where she was going/she was doing it anyway is no defense. It's sexual assault unless she asked him to do it. Even if he did it 10 times prior with her permission and she didn't want him to do it 1 time, it's still sexual assault.
The rest of the video matters a ton. Her gestures could certainly be construed as consent and if there's more that could be even more mitigating. He should still know better, which is why I suggested a misdemeanor, but her behavior is absolutely relevant.
How bout the gestures of her smacking his hand away, quickly pulling up her shirt and looking embarrassed?
No question her reaction indicates that it wasn't welcome. Did you not read the part where I said I felt charges and suspension were still warranted?
It puts the situation into context, obviously. If the rest of the video showed Zeke dragging the girl up to that balcony by her hair, or drugging her, or hitting her - you'd obviously feel differently about the situation than if immediately after this "incident" the video shows her laughing, grabbing his junk, and then turning around and flashing the crowd yet again to have beads thrown at her. You simply can't tell the story of the evening from a simple 5 second video clip.
I think we look at this from two different points of view:
I'm not saying this isn't the case, but I don't think we can claim the bolded just from the video. I mean she motions repeatedly, and I mean repeatedly to both of her breasts, then points to Zeke, and then repeatedly motions to her breasts again. For all we know she asked him to do it (either there on the balcony or previously) and she's just "playing along". Above someone mentioned her slapping his had away - but the TMZ video I saw just ends right when he pulls the top down.
By the letter of the law, SHE determines if it was unwanted or not, not our biased interpretation of her immediate reaction in a small video clip. If she doesn't care and does not press charges, he did not commit a crime.
This is actually a common misconception with law, thanks to TV. Private citizens don't really determine if charges are to be filed. A DA does that.
This is why we have a judicial system. Because the social justice method fails. If he walks up to her on a random street and does this there's no question it's a sexual assault. He didn't though. This was a party scene, with other possible points of nudity, some of it perhaps being voluntary. We see wet t-shirt contests or other events where the participants expressly permit themselves to be exposed by others for others. They frequently gesture to others to participate. I could cite 2 dozen NSFW places to find it on the internet. What if the rest of the video shows her 20 seconds earlier offering her chest up to a different guy to expose? You don't think Elliott, 20 seconds later, could have reasonably inferred she was consenting with that gesture and pointing to him? Context matters.
Not entirely true. A DA can proceed with charges with any kind of evidence, they don't need the victim to press charges. It's very frequent in domestic abuse cases that despite the victim refusing to press charges or testify, or even testifying in defense of the defendant, the DA will proceed with charges.
Going to have to agree to disagree. She covers up and swipes his hand away. In fact, I don't care if she gave him consent to pull her top down earlier or later in the day. This time, in this video, she didn't.
Is there any precedent with similar cases? Someone pulls down the shirt of a friend who does not file a complaint and the DA proceeds with charges? Where have you seen this?
That would be a good argument for a courtroom. If there's no mitigating evidence on the rest of the tape it could well be successful.
http://www.rivcoda.org/opencms/daoffice/commonquestions.html#victimdv
Let me ask you this, does Goodell have a track record of not handing out suspensions until the judicial system has played out its course?
Charges have nothing to do with him being suspended. Hes already under a sexual assault investigation. You think the NFL likes this look? The second video looks even worse. He tries again and gets slapped away a second time.
