Louisville football player Kemari Averett was accused of rape just days before he appeared in a game for the Cardinals vs. Boston College.
According the Courier-Journal:
University of Louisville police are investigating an Oct. 9 report filed by a 20-year-old student that alleges Cardinals’ football player Kemari Averett raped her at his apartment in mid-August, according to documents obtained by the Courier Journal.
It means that Averett was already under investigation in the alleged sexual assault, which the woman first reported in mid-August, when he was arrested Oct. 15 for allegedly holding a gun to a different woman’s head.
Just days after campus police opened the rape case, the 20-year-old sophomore tight end played in Louisville’s Oct. 13 road game against Boston College.
In a telephone interview Wednesday night, Averett said he was aware of the allegation, but described it as a “false accusation.”
Averett has not been charged in the alleged rape case, records show.
He told the Courier Journal he had a previous relationship with the accuser but did not have sex with her that August morning and had not been in contact with her for “about four months.”
“I told her that I never want to be with her, and I’m quite sure that’s the reason why that she’s trying to say I raped her,” he said.
At the time he is accused of raping the alleged victim, “I was at practice,” Averett said. “I was at the football stadium at 7 o’clock.”
Averett’s attorney says he believes Louisville knew about the rape accusations in August and determined them to be without merit:
Averett’s attorney told ESPN that he believes the university knew about the accusations in August and determined them to be without merit.
Karman refuted that, saying the university has no record of an investigation conducted in August into accusations against Averett. Karman said when a student reports an issue to a sexual assault crisis center, that information is not immediately passed on to other offices within the university until the claimant decides if he or she wants to pursue charges.
Averett was suspended from the team after being arrested for allegedly threatening to kill another woman while holding a gun to her head. He has since been kicked out of his apartment and banned from campus.
