The weekend largely has slowed the frenzy of news items regarding Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor. But with no new controversy to bump L.T.'s situation out of the headlines, the situation will remain a major focal point of media coverage.
Sunday’s New York Post provides some new details regarding the case. The 16-year-old girl with whom Taylor allegedly had sex shared details as to the manner in which she was allegedly forced into the encounter.
“I told [Rasheed Davis] I wasn’t going to the hotel, and he said, ‘You’re f---ing this up, it’s $300,” the girl told the Post. She claims that Davis then hit her in the face, and that he kicked and stomped on her.
The girl also says that, because the room was dark, Taylor didn’t see the bruising on her face. She was told to tell Taylor that she is 19.
But here’s where it gets weird. (Or, as the case may be, weirder.) The girl claims that she feared for her life if she refused to have sex with Taylor. “If I didn’t go through with it, [Taylor] would’ve called Rasheed and there would have been consequences,” she said. “God knows what would’ve happened if I didn’t go through with it.”
But the Post reports that, despite these fears, the girl was able and willing to send a text message to her uncle for help “while still in the alleged clutches of Davis.” Though the “clutches” phrase likely was added for effect, we’re still confused by the fact that she didn’t send a text message to her uncle before the incident -- and that she somehow was able to send him a text message after the incident, while being driven back to New York by Davis.
The Post also reports that Taylor was involved in five domestic disturbances with two of his wives since 2002. It’s irrelevant to the charges he’s currently facing, but it counters the notion that Taylor otherwise has lived a squeaky-clean life since leaving drug use in his past.
Bottom line? Taylor faces serious consequences, regardless of whether the girl lied to him about her age. His lawyer has acknowledged that ignorance is no defense. Taylor’s only hope at this point will be the ability to create reasonable doubt as to whether they had the kind of sexual contact that would result in a Class E felony (punishable by up to four years in prisons), or the ability to persuade prosecutors to cut him some slack due to the fact that his illegal activity -- patronizing a prostitute -- ended up inadvertently being far more illegal than Taylor ever intended or imagined.