$75,000?!

By April Fleming

Monday, June 16, 2008

I just commented on this story at the Journal-World website... this girl won $75K in a civil suit against Sherron Collins for allegedly exposing himself and rubbing up on her in an elevator on campus.

$75K?!! That's batshit crazy of the court, even if it's true. Even though I confess that I don't believe the girl, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for argument's sake.

I mentioned that something like this happened to me on the New York subway about five years ago - a dude basically dry-humped (is that hyphenated?) my leg in a train car. I shamed him by pointing it out to the people around us, and that was the end of it.

Was it really, really icky? Definitley. Unacceptable? Of course. But severe emotional pain and a civil trial?? Give me a goddamn break. If there's not more to her story than what was mentioned in the article, I'd appeal.

I don't think I'd come at it like this if it didn't happen to me too - but c'mon -more serious, provable civil rape or battery cases very frequently don't even get monetary settlements anywhere near something like this, if they do at all.

Also, I'd think it's safe (and unfortunate for the girl) to say that any fallout from this news getting out into public hands will be more emotionally damaging to her than what may or may not have happened in the first place. I'm starting to hope for her sake that she doesn't live here.

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Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 2:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't think we know the whole story here. For one thing, the incident you described was in a public place where you certainly took charge of the situation. Ms. Brown was alone with a bigger, stronger man that she knew and had no way to control the situation. What she didn't know was if and when he was going to stop and if it would happen again. They are neighbors not strangers on a subway.

Let's not forget "No" means "no" even if you're a National Championship player.

Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on June 16, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Agreed, there are differences and I definitley see your point. But as described so far, it doesn't make sense to me.

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Oh, and one more thing I thought of. We don't know (and Collins probably didn't either) if she has some past experience that would cause her to be predisposed to having a particularly more emotionally painful response than say you or me. Everybody reacts differently to these things based on their world view, life experiences and mental state.

Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on June 16, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)

But are other people responsible for fragile emotional states they're unaware of?

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

That's the chance he took when he kept it up after being asked to stop.

Posted by Ltowney (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 3:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

have we not heard from enough BS women trying to scavenge money from people that they get close enough to in order to screw them over??? Duke lacrosse anyone? This girl sounds like another phony. Shame on Sherron for whipping out his dick in an elevator (MORON!). Understand that you can't afford to do that shit once your famous.

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"This girl sounds like another phony." - Based on what? The fact that the judge ruled in her favor? Or that he didn't bother to fight it? Or just because you think all ladies who use the system at their disposal are gold diggers?

The LaCrosse team was vindicated. Collins was not.

Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on June 16, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Without evidence of any real sort, I can't really believe anybody - there's too much of a reason for either of them to lie (or just not say anything). How slow are those elevators anyway?

No criminal charges likely means it's too much of a he said, she said and there's no evidence to support either story. That's why I don't understand a monetary award for injury. What injury? alm's desire to believe ms. brown is surely well-intentioned - we don't want to blame any victims but without evidence how can we implicate someone that could be innocent? Maybe there is evidence but we're not privy to it - but then I don't understand why he was never charged with something. It doesn't matter to me that he's well-known. I don't want to owe someone $75K for something someone *said* I did.

It took over a year or something for the lacrosse team to be cleared from what I remember.

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 3:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

" I don't want to owe someone $75K for something someone *said* I did." - Exactly, which is where I get the strength of my assumption that she's telling the truth. Why didn't he defend himself? I'd put up a fight for $75K if I was innocent.

I don't know why there were no charges. Charles Bronson doesn't know either. She reported it to campus police.

From LJW: "Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said Monday that his office was aware of the allegations the woman had made against Collins. He said his office had requested additional investigative work from KU police and had not yet received a completed report. He said he was not sure how long ago that request was made."

On the one hand, he's innocent until proven guilty. On the other hand, she just won a lawsuit, so her claims must not be completely baseless.

Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on June 16, 2008 at 4:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Who knows. It seems from the updates in the story that the basketball program was fully aware of this from the beginning... I don't understand why it would behoove (right word?) Collins not to show up to this thing, even if there is evidence. There's obviously a lot missing from the story.

My initial reaction when I posted this was based on my own experience with an exposure/rub perv - granted it was different because there were other people fairly close to me in the traincar. But how long could they possibly have been on that elevator together? Those places are only four, maybe five stories tall, right?

Without more evidence that (if this did happen) he was being more than just really weird and gross I just don't see lasting harm to the tune of severe distress. Not to say that people should really ever be displaying or more their wang to random strangers but if be a gross perv for a minute was all he did then I think the case was overblown and perhaps good dose of public shame would be good with me.

Obviously if it is more than that he should be prosecuted criminally. The evidence factor makes cases like this such a mess.

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 4:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't know about how long you can be in one of those elevators. Lots of variables like time of day, etc. What exactly happened? Did he use the "Stop" button? I don't know and don't have access to a police report. Maybe the fact they weren't in there long is what kept it from being worse than it was. *I just don't know.*

What I do know is that the publicity from a $75,000 should be a warning to all young men and bring awareness that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on June 16, 2008 at 7:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well, I'm glad you and I could talk it out. :) A degree or 80 more civil than the ljworld comment thread.

Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on June 16, 2008 at 7:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah, no kidding it's getting crazy over there. And by the way, I had a "well, duh!" moment and placed a phone call and a good friend of mine. (I also noticed someone on the ljw forums had the same idea with the same results). While successfully removing myself from the jury pool should this go to trial, I was assured that the victim in this case is of the most upstanding character. My friend is absolutely certain of Ms. Brown's credibility in this case. So, I stand by my assumptions, but not necessarily my speculations. I didn't get any details, but I'm now throughly convinced he did it.

Posted by frankt (Frank Tankard) on June 17, 2008 at 10:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Tom Keegan wrote a pretty good column, published this morning, on why we should hold our fire:
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/jun/1...

Posted by blahblahblah (anonymous) on June 17, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The fact that the KBI is involved and some sort of "labratory testing" is being completed (supposedly, of course), it definitely lends some creedence to the lady's story. I hope everyone can give the poor woman a break. She filed the civil suit due to the statute of limitations. Most civil cases begin with an exorbitant first demand, then are bargained down in litigation (few make it to court). Had Collins actually responded, things may have gone much differently.

$75,000?!

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