LAPD investigating rape allegation against NBA star Derrick Rose, who faces a lawsuit in the same case
Los Angeles police are investigating a woman’s allegations that NBA star Derrick Rose and two friends raped her while she was intoxicated, according to an LAPD spokesman.
News of the ongoing LAPD probe came to light as an attorney representing the woman in a civil case against Rose and the other men made a last-ditch appeal to the judge to conceal the woman’s identity.
The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald, had granted the woman’s request to remain anonymous throughout months of pretrial hearings and court filings, saying she had a legitimate worry of harassment and threats if her name was released.
But Fitzgerald ruled last week that the importance of keeping courtrooms open to the public and of ensuring a fair trial for the three men meant the woman had to be identified during the trial, which is scheduled to begin next week.
On Sunday, Brandon Anand, the woman’s attorney, filed an unusual request asking Fitzgerald to reconsider his decision in light of the Los Angeles Police Department’s investigation into whether a rape occurred.
Anand included in his request a letter from LAPD Det. Nadine Hernandez, whom he identified as the officer investigating the case. In it, Hernandez wrote that being able to offer anonymity to people who come forward to accuse others of rape is “an invaluable investigative aid to investigators.” She added that the LAPD would continue to guard the woman’s identity throughout its investigation.
Naming the woman at the civil trial, Anand warned Fitzgerald, would deprive her of her right to remain anonymous as an accuser in a criminal investigation and during a criminal trial if one were to ultimately occur.
The woman has accused Rose, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen of assaulting her early one morning in August 2013.
She alleged that the men drugged her while she was drinking alcohol with them in the house the basketball star was renting in Los Angeles and then entered her apartment hours later. She said she was in an “incapacitated state of consciousness” when the alleged sexual assault occurred.
Rose, who was recently traded to the New York Knicks after several injury-prone seasons with the Chicago Bulls, and the other men acknowledge they had sex with the woman that night, but insist it was consensual.
The woman filed a complaint with the LAPD in August 2015.
Mark Baute, a lawyer for Rose, has taken an aggressive stance throughout the lead-up to the civil trial, saying in court papers that the woman’s demand for $21 million amounts to “extortion.”
In a written response to questions, Baute on Monday reiterated Rose’s claim that the encounter was consensual, but declined to address the question of the woman’s anonymity.
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UPDATES:
2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from Rose’s attorney.
This article was originally published at 1:40 p.m.
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