Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston is being investigated by the NFL, BuzzFeed News reported Friday, after an Uber driver alleged that Winston groped her during a ride in March 2016. The driver claimed that after picking Winston up around 2 a.m. in Scottsdale, Arizona, the quarterback grabbed her crotch while they were waiting for food at a drive-thru window.
The driver, Kate, declined to provide her last name to BuzzFeed News for fear of retribution from NFL fans. She said that Winston sat in the front seat of her car and was the only passenger for the ride, and that he held his hand over her crotch for several seconds. She said he moved only after she "looked up in shock and said, 'What's up with that?'"
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Uber confirmed that Kate had submitted a complaint report to the company after the alleged assault. Winston "is NOT safe for other female drivers," Kate wrote to Uber at the time. The company told BuzzFeed News that an account under the name Jameis Winston had been "permanently removed" from the app that evening, and that "the behavior the driver reported is disturbing and wrong."
In a statement Friday after BuzzFeed News published its story, Winston did not deny that his Uber account had been suspended, but called the groping accusation "false" and said that he believed Kate "was confused as to the number of passengers in the car and who was sitting next to her."
In December 2016, Winston settled a lawsuit with Erica Kinsman, who alleged that Winston raped her when they were students at Florida State University in 2012. Winston was never formally charged by the Tallahassee Police Department for the alleged incident, and an FSU investigation found that the school's star quarterback had not violated its code of conduct.
Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.