Josh Jackson, ex-Suns first-rounder and former Kansas star, accused of rape, battery in lawsuit

Warning: The next article incorporates descriptions of alleged graphic sexual assault.

Josh Jackson, the previous Kansas star and 2017 first-round draft decide for the Phoenix Suns, has been accused of sexual assault, battery, and orchestrating an armed theft in a federal lawsuit introduced by a girl recognized solely as Jane Doe.

In accordance with the go well with, which was viewed by the Kansas City Star, Doe and Jackson met at a Tremendous Bowl after celebration in New York Metropolis in February 2022. The celebration was thrown by then-Brooklyn Nets participant Andre Drummond, who invited Doe as a result of she had a “romantic curiosity” in Jackson. The 2 exchanged cellphone numbers whereas Doe was searching for assist in search of her misplaced cellphone, after which went to a nightclub with others to proceed to celebration.

Per the lawsuit, Doe went residence, however shortly after acquired a textual content message from Jackson providing her $1,500 to come back and see him, in keeping with the go well with. She instructed her legal professional that she did not settle for the $1,500, however when Jackson despatched her an Uber so she might get to the place he was, she took it, saying she thought the celebration was nonetheless occurring.

However there was no celebration, in keeping with the go well with. Doe alleges Jackson was alone, and mentioned she instructed him that she was “not there for intercourse” and wasn’t a “gold-digger” when he tried to impress her. After a night of consuming, Doe finally fell asleep on the mattress going through away from Jackson. Nevertheless, she says she awakened after Jackson allegedly “ripped open” her garments and raped her. She cried for him to cease, and finally “passing out from the trauma, confusion and horror of the rape,” in keeping with the go well with.

Doe ran out of the room the subsequent morning and acquired an emergency contraception capsule earlier than returning to her house. A short while later, the go well with says, she started getting threatening messages from a number of unknown cellphone numbers accusing her of stealing a watch and claiming they knew the place she lived. Whereas in the course of a nap later that day, she heard the sound of her locked entrance door opening, and was abruptly confronted by two hoodie-wearing girls, one holding what seemed to be a gun, who threatened to kill her. The ladies have been tackled by constructing safety and arrested by the NYPD. Doe alleges that Jackson orchestrated the theft.

The go well with Jane Doe has introduced in opposition to Jackson is a civil go well with and doesn’t contain prison expenses. She is searching for damages from Jackson and the 2 girls who have been caught by safety whereas they have been robbing her. Jackson has “emphatically” denied all the charges by his lawyer.

Whereas it is a civil go well with, there’s a police report that matches the essential particulars of Doe’s description within the lawsuit, although some features are completely different. In June, the KC Star considered a police report that was submitted in New York for an alleged rape that befell in the identical lodge on the identical day. The girl instructed police that she arrived on the suspect’s lodge room after consuming alcohol and could not keep in mind what occurred after. When she awakened the subsequent morning, all of her garments have been off and she or he was in mattress subsequent to the suspect. When he tried to get on high of her, she pushed him off, received dressed, and left. The KC Star famous that “believes she will be the sufferer of a sexual assault,” was written on the police report.

Jackson, 26, was picked fourth general by the Suns within the 2017 draft following only a single 12 months at KU. Nevertheless, he was by no means in a position to notice the potential the Suns believed he had. Phoenix traded him to the Memphis Grizzlies after simply two years, and from there he hung out with the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings. He signed with the Kings’ G League group in January 2023, however was waived 4 days later and is presently a free agent.

This isn’t the primary time Jackson has had authorized points. In 2019 he was arrested for resisting an officer and accused of utilizing marijuana round his toddler daughter. Two years earlier he was arrested for allegedly vandalizing a automotive belonging to a member of the KU girls’s basketball group, however was entered right into a diversion program and needed to full an anger administration course.