{"id":64869,"date":"2023-05-05T14:35:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T18:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assaults-64869"},"modified":"2023-05-05T14:35:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T18:35:59","slug":"ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assaults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assaults-64869","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NMSU basketball players file lawsuit over alleged sexual assaults"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Two former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/new-mexico-state-chancellor-culture-bad-behavior-contained-within-basketball-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Mexico State men&#8217;s basketball<\/a> players said they were subjected to hazing and sexual assault by older teammates.<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference, the former players added that their alleged attackers were multiple members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/new-mexico-state-mens-basketball-program-suspended-indefinitely-reports-hazing-chancellor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">basketball team<\/a> who coerced the victims into remaining silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There were most definitely other players that got attacked the way that we got attacked,&#8221; Shakiru Odunewu said in an interview with ESPN earlier this week. &#8220;But &#8230; these other guys, I feel like they manipulated them to believe that if they came out, that they were snitching.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some assistant coaches were also targeted, according to Odunewu and Deuce Benjamin. They added that players who committed the alleged acts of harassment also pulled down assistant coaches&#8217; pants in public places.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After the [game] at UTEP, when we lost, they pantsed one of the assistants,&#8221; Benjamin said. &#8220;One assistant coach had his pants pulled down while he slept on the bus,&#8221; he said, and another was targeted but yelled enough to dissuade the attackers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Other coaches acted] like they didn&#8217;t see it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/miami-of-ohio-womens-basketball-coach-resigns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>MIAMI OF OHIO WOMEN\u2019S BASKETBALL COACH STEPS DOWN AMID INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH A PLAYER: REPORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Benjamin and Odunewu detailed their experiences for the first time publicly Wednesday. Their lawsuit was filed against the university in April for the alleged mishandling of the assaults.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit states that Odunewu reported the abuse to coach Greg Heiar, but the coach failed to discipline the alleged attackers. <\/p>\n<p>Odunewu then alerted the New Mexico State campus police department in February. The basketball season was canceled shortly after Odunewu&#8217;s report was filed and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/new-mexico-state-fires-mens-basketball-coach-greg-heiar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heiar was fired<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">police investigation<\/a> remains ongoing, but no charges had been filed against anyone as of Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Odunewu identified Kim Aiken Jr., Doctor Bradley and Deshawndre Washington as the alleged attackers and mentioned that the three former players targeted &#8220;just about everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who attempted to resist or fight back was subjected to more extreme punishment, according to Odunewu.<\/p>\n<p>Aiken, Bradley and Washington couldn&#8217;t be reached for comment. Representatives for Heiar did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital&#8217;s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/surveillance-footage-shows-fatal-shooting-new-mexico-campus-rival-player-allegedly-lured\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE SHOWS FATAL SHOOTING ON NEW MEXICO CAMPUS WHERE RIVAL PLAYER WAS ALLEGEDLY LURED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Benjamin said that the act of pulling down a player&#8217;s pants was sometimes viewed as a part of the team&#8217;s pregame ritual. He said he did not speak out during his freshman year because he came to believe that the alleged abuse was a normal part of college basketball culture.<\/p>\n<p>His father, William Benjamin, eventually noticed that his son was behaving differently. Deuce then had an open dialogue with his dad.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At first, I just asked him, like, if he was experiencing the same things I was when he was in college,&#8221; Deuce Benjamin said. &#8220;And he wasn&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>William Benjamin said his son was put in an unthinkable situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And as a father, I feel like I failed my son for putting him in this situation,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Odunewu said he initially feared speaking out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was scared that if I did come out &#8230; I was going to mess with these people&#8217;s careers. But it just got to a point where I just couldn&#8217;t bear it anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin and Odunewu are in the NCAA transfer portal, and both plan to petition <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/ncaa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the NCAA<\/a> for an additional year of eligibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assault\">Source &#8211; https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assault <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two former New Mexico State men&#8217;s basketball players said they were subjected to hazing and sexual assault by older teammates. During a press conference, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-64869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ex-NMSU basketball players file lawsuit over alleged sexual assaults - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-nmsu-basketball-players-file-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-assaults-64869\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-NMSU basketball players file lawsuit over alleged sexual assaults - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two former New Mexico State men&#8217;s basketball players said they were subjected to hazing and sexual assault by older teammates. 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