ANDhe Houston Police Department launched an investigation into Texans player Deshaun Watson after a plaintiff filed a report against him on Friday.
“As with any allegation, the Houston Police Department is now conducting an investigation and will not comment further during the process,” the department said in a statement, without specifying what Watson is accused of in the complaint.
Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, also in a statement, announced that both his office, himself and Watson “will cooperate fully with the Houston Police Department. We welcome this long-awaited development,” said Hardin. “We will now know the identity of at least one accuser. We will cooperate fully with the Houston Police Department.”
Watson currently faces 21 civil lawsuits for sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, presented by Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee, who also denounced that the presence of Hardin’s son in the police force could affect the development of the investigation of the case. Buzbee, in a statement Friday, said he was not personally involved in presenting the report to police.
He wrote on Instagram earlier this week that he was not comfortable presenting any information to the Houston Police Department and that he and his clients “will go elsewhere to provide our evidence to investigating authorities.”
Watson has denied any wrongdoing and Hardin said last week that he believes “any allegation that Deshaun forced a woman to perform a sexual act is completely false.”
Hardin released statements Wednesday from 18 women who say they have worked with the Texans quarterback. and that he “never made them feel uncomfortable or demanded anything beyond the scope of a professional massage.”
I never made them feel uncomfortable or demanded anything outside of the scope of a professional massage.
Watson’s attorney said the statements were voluntary and from women who collectively “have worked with Deshaun more than 130 times over the past five years.”
For its part, the National Football League (NFL) reported this Friday in a statement that it “continues closely all developments” related to the league’s personal conduct policy., and the Texans said in a statement that they would remain in close contact with the NFL during their investigation.
While the executive director of the Players Union, DeMaurice Smith, announced on Tuesday that his organization is also in direct contact with everything that happens around the situation that has been created after the presentation of the lawsuits.
