Seahawks' Stevens accused of rape: report
Last Updated: Thursday, June 5, 2003 | 8:08 PM ET
CBC Sports
According to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a woman filed suit in King County (WA) Superior Court on Wednesday against the Seahawks tight end, alleging that he raped her outside of a fraternity party in 2000.
According to the woman, now 22, Stevens forced himself on her after someone slipped a drug into her drink.
She awoke in the morning after with no recollection of what had happened, but her lawsuit alleges that evidence from a hospital examination shows that she had sexual contact with him.
The 23-year-old Stevens was arrested for the incident and jailed overnight, but no charges were ever filed and a four-month police investigation didn't produce enough evidence to warrant further pursuance of the case.
The lawsuit is just the latest in a string of legal problems for Stevens, who entered Seattle's camp before last season with a checkered past.
In 2001, Washington coach Rick Neuheisel held him out of the first half of the team's season-opener against Michigan as punishment for an accident the previous May, in which police say Stevens ran his truck into a retirement centre and left the scene.
The truck ripped a hole in a wall at the Merrill Gardens, shattering a window in a bedroom where a 92-year-old woman was sleeping, according to a police report.
The woman was not hurt.
Stevens pleaded guilty in June of 2001 to misdemeanour hit-and-run and was ordered to complete 240 hours of community service for the elderly and homeless.
A 90-day jail term and $1,000 US fine were suspended.
More recently, Stevens was charged with drunken driving on May 16, more than a month after two half-empty bottles of champagne were discovered in his car during a traffic stop.
He was also charged with two counts of assault in June of 1998 after a fight near Olympia, about 60 miles south of Seattle.
He eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault for kicking a man.
He also spent three weeks in jail that summer after a drug test administered under terms of his house arrest turned up THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
Stevens, Seattle's 2002 first-round draft pick, caught 26 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns last season for the Seahawks.
