Details about a sexual assault case from more than 20 years ago involving the Detroit Lions' newly hired head coach Matt Patricia have recently resurfaced, but the coach maintains that the accuser lied about the assault, Detroit News reports.
Paticia, along with another man, was indicted by a grand jury on aggravated sexual assault charges in 1996. The accuser ended up not testifying, and the case was dismissed nearly a year later. "In my opinion, it was a fabrication," said one of Patricia's defense lawyers, Jeff Wilson. "I’m telling you it was a 'he said, she said.' I don’t know what type of problems the girl was having; I don’t know why she made that allegation. We vehemently denied that he was doing anything wrong or did anything wrong."
The Lions organization said the incident did not show up in their standard background check, when Patricia was hired to replace Jim Caldwell earlier this year, but they're standing behind their hiring decision just the same. "We have spoken to Coach Patricia about this at length as well as the attorney who represented him at the time," owner Martha Firestone Ford, general manager Bob Quinn, and president Rod Wood said in a statement. "Based upon everything we have learned, we believe and have accepted Coach Patricia's explanation and we will continue to support him."
Patricia also released his own statement through the team about the matter. "As someone who was falsely accused of this very serious charge over 22 years ago, and never given the opportunity to defend myself and clear my name, I find it incredibly unfair, disappointing, and frustrating that this story would resurface now with the only purpose being to damage my character and reputation," he said. "I firmly maintain my innocence, as I have always done."
