THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020390
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A former Virginia Tech student said in court documents Friday that All-American defensive end Cornell Brown witnessed two other football players sexually assaulting her and failed to intervene.
Christy Brzonkala contends Tony Morrison of Chesapeake and James Crawford attacked her in their dorm suite in September 1994. She also contends that Virginia Tech violated her rights during internal judicial proceedings and that school employees conspired to obscure Brown's role.
Brzonkala added Brown as a defendant in an amended civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. The revised lawsuit, the first under the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994, adds allegations against the players and the university.
Brzonkala alleges that Virginia Tech gave preferential treatment to the players during judicial hearings in which Crawford was cleared and Morrison was suspended and then allowed to return to school.
``Head football coach Frank Beamer, through his subordinates, his agents and/or his representatives, participated directly or indirectly in the process by which the sanctions against Morrison were overturned,'' the lawsuit alleges.
Brzonkala wants U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser to force the university to change the way it handles sexual assault cases involving students.
Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker denied that Brown's role was obscured and that the athletic department was involved. ``It's pure fantasy. There was no contact between anyone in the athletic department and people who were conducting the hearings,'' he said.
Brzonkala's attorney, Eileen Wagner, said that last week she obtained audio tapes of the university's judicial hearings that back up Brzonkala's recollection that Brown admitted being in the room.
The lawsuit seeks $10 million from Morrison and unspecified damages from the other players and the university.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT VIRGINIA TECH by CNB