The Miami Police Department says the initial report that 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was being investigated for an alleged sexual assault was based on taking information from a police document out of context.
Miami Police spokesman Rene Pimental told the San Jose Mercury News that TMZ, which initially broke the story of Kaepernick being a subject of a police investigation, “took the report out of context.”
TMZ is still carrying the headline, “Colin Kaepernick investigated for sexual assault” on its front page, and the TMZ report also says, “it’s clear they are investigating an alleged sex crime, due to the fact the case was referred to the Special Victim’s Office, which handles sex crimes.”
However, the Special Victims Unit section of the Miami Police Department’s website says that office actually covers more than just sex crimes. Incidents ranging from abuse of the elderly to missing persons reports also fall under the “Special Victims” umbrella. It is not currently known why the Special Victims Unit was working on this case, but it would be wrong to conclude that it must be a sexual assault investigation.
Police took an incident report from a woman who said she was hanging out with Kaepernick, 49ers receiver Quinton Patton, and Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette. She says that after drinking with them she went to bed, and the next thing she knew she was waking up in a hospital. That incident report lists Kaepernick, Patton and Lockette as suspects, but the police say that doesn’t mean a crime was committed.
“There’s no evidence of a crime or a sexual assault,” Pimental said. “This report is simply an incident report taken at the woman’s request.”
One of the few things that’s clear about this story is that there’s still a lot we don’t know.