Two former LSU students say Washington running back Derrius Guice raped them when he was a freshman at LSU in 2016.
Two women say NFL free agent and former Washington running back Derrius Guice raped them while he was a freshman at LSU in 2016, according to a report by USA Today.
The alleged incidents, which reportedly occurred months apart, did not result in any apparent investigations at LSU. Though no formal complaints were filed with law enforcement, at least two coaches, an athletics administrator and a nurse were informed of the incidents at the time, according to USA Today. One woman said her alleged rape was reported to the school’s Title IX office but was never investigated.
Guice's lawyer, Peter D. Greenspun, denied the allegations.
"At no time were allegations of physical or sexual assault brought against Derrius during his years as a student athlete at LSU," Greenspun said in a statement to USA Today. "To bring up such assertions only after the Virginia charges were initiated certainly calls into question the credibility, nature and timing of what is being alleged years later. Such speculation and innuendo should not be the basis for Derrius to be required to make any comment at all," Greenspun added. "But he wants to be absolutely clear. The allegations in this story are just that and have no basis in fact."
Guice was released by the Washington football team on Aug. 7 after the 23-year-old was arrested on three counts of assault and battery and counts of destruction of property and felony strangulation stemming from three domestic violence incidents earlier in the year. According to charging documents, one of the incidents involved Guice's allegedly strangling his girlfriend until she was unconscious at his Virginia home in March, in addition to pushing her to the ground on other occasions. Guice turned himself in, was released on $10,000 bond and is set to appear in Loudoun General District Court on Aug. 28.
In the 2016 incidents, Guice raped both women while they were under influence from alcohol and weren't able to give consent, according to testimonies from the women, friends and family. The first woman said he showed up to a party at her apartment uninvited and entered her room after she shut the door and had passed out on her bed.
A friend of the woman, a member of the women's diving team, reportedly told her coach who then reported it to athletic officials. Someone from LSU later emailed the woman, saying the school was aware of the incident and that she could get treatment at the university health center. While at the center, though, a nurse reaffirmed the woman's decision not to file a report on Guice.
“He’s like a god around here,” the woman recalled the nurse, an LSU employee, saying. “It probably would get pushed under the rug.”
In a later encounter, the woman says Guice became "violent" after his teammates informed him she said the sex was nonconsensual.
“He started going off and saying I don’t know who he is, I don’t know who I’m messing with and he should go and get his gun. I told him, ‘Do what you need to do,'" the woman said, according to USA Today.
The second woman, an LSU tennis player, says she was raped by Guice after meeting him at a bar, where he bought her multiple Patrón shots. She describes herself as being "extremely" intoxicated at the time and was “way too drunk to give consent in the first place.”
Guice drove the woman and a friend to their apartments from the bar but later asked the woman if he could return. She agreed but told him that nothing would happen. The woman says she was later forced to have sex with him, and he was gone by the time she woke up.
Both women say their drinking and drug use increased following the incidents and ended up in rehab. The second woman was released from the tennis team after testing positive for an unapproved substance, while the coach, Julia Sell, told the woman's father that she did not believe she was raped, according to USA Today. The woman later transferred from LSU.
“I was floored,” the woman's father said. “It’s not something I would say. It’s not something most human beings would say after being given that type of news, even if they don’t believe it.”
According to USA Today, LSU football coach Ed Orgeron knew of Guice's interaction with the first woman. Her then boyfriend, who was a member of the football team at the time, said Orgeron brought up the alleged assault about a year after it happened. The then boyfriend believes Orgeron knew the act was nonconsensual, but it is unclear if that was the case.
“(Orgeron) said, ‘Everybody’s girlfriend sleeps with other people,’ ” the former player said, according to USA Today.
In regard to LSU's apparent lack of investigation into the incidents, the university released the following statement to USA Today.
“LSU and LSU Athletics take all accusations of sexual assault with the utmost seriousness. Formal complaints are promptly and fully investigated and the rights and privacy of students are protected as stipulated by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Complainants are also strongly encouraged to report the offense to law enforcement and are provided information on health care, counseling and supportive measures available.”
Before Guice was released from Washington, the team reportedly interviewed the former LSU tennis player about her alleged encounter at LSU. Though the team has dropped the investigation since Guice is no longer a member, the NFL is reportedly looking into the domestic violence charges to determine whether he violated the league’s personal conduct policy.
Guice holds LSU’s single-game rushing record and is No. 5 on the Tigers’ career rushing list. He played in just five games in his rookie season with Washington after being selected late in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft.