Lawyers representing the 20-year-old college student who accused Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault said Tuesday she is telling the truth.
Lee Parks and David Walbert, with the Atlanta law firm of Parks, Chesin & Walbert, said they have been retained by the student's parents to represent her and asked the news media to keep her name confidential.
"Their daughter has done the right thing and reported this matter to the police," said Parks and Walbert in a press statement. "She has been, and will be, available to the authorities to assist them in the criminal investigation."
The statement added that "while the matter is under investigation, we ask you to respect her privacy, keep her name out of the press and allow the family space and time to heal."
The accuser's lawyers spoke out one day after Roethlisberger hired high-profile defense attorney Ed Garland, who issued a statement saying "no sexual assault occurred. Ben is completely innocent of any crime."
Roethlisberger, 28, a two-time Super Bowl winner, has not been charged with a crime, but authorities said they consider him a suspect in the case and have asked him to provide a DNA sample.
The unidentified accuser claims she was sexually assaulted by Roethlisberger inside the Capital City nightclub in Milledgeville early Friday morning. She reported the alleged assault to a beat cop outside the club at 2 a.m. and was taken to a medical center for examination.
The results of the medical examination have not been released, but the findings could be crucial to the case.
The entertainment news service TMZ reported Tuesday that the alleged victim dropped out of Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville over the weekend, but school officials said she is still enrolled.
Milledgeville Police Chief Woodrow Blue and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Tom Davis said they expect to interview a dozen people who had been barhopping with Roethlisberger in the college town Thursday night and Friday morning.
The dozen include bodyguards and other members of Roethlisberger's party, and other witnesses to the quarterback's conduct that night.
Authorities are also reviewing video footage obtained from the nightclub and other bars that Roethlisberger visited that night.
Scott Eady, a bartender at the Capital City club, told the Milledgville Union-Recorder the alleged victim was with Roethlisberger most of the night, and that he saw the couple go down a hall into a room near the manager's office early Friday.
