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Former NFL player and ESPN analyst Marcellus Wiley has been accused of raping a Columbia student while they attended the school in 1994.
According to Fox News, the alleged victim filed a lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, claiming that Wiley sexually assaulted her in the fall of 1994 while he was starring as a running back on Columbia's football team.
The alleged victim claimed that she and Wiley were friends when he invited himself to her dorm room to allegedly listen to music and eat dinner. While in the dorm room, Wiley forcefully ripped the alleged victim's clothes off and "forced her facedown onto the mattress," according to the lawsuit.
Wiley allegedly raped the woman multiple times, and when she tried to escape, he allegedly threatened her before physically putting her back on a bed.
The alleged victim said she reported the incident to Columbia administrators but they had a "fondness" for Wiley and didn't want to throw away his budding professional football career.
Wiley was put on academic probation during the 1995 spring semester and completed classes back home while he remained a member of the football team. He later became one of the best pass rushers in the country as a defensive end and was drafted to the NFL.
Meanwhile, the alleged victim said she attempted suicide because of the trauma she sustained from the assault.
"[Wiley’s] actions were intentionally designed to cause plaintiff severe emotional distress or were taken with reckless disregard of the significant and/or substantial probability of causing plaintiff severe emotional distress," the lawsuit states.
Wiley hasn't publicly commented on the allegations.
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