University of Washington police are investigating members of the men’s crew team for an alleged sex assault, police said Wednesday.
Two members of the rowing team have been suspended indefinitely from the program pending the outcome of the investigation, according to Jennifer Cohen, University of Washington director of athletics.
A 19-year-old woman told police she found out two weeks ago that the two rowers were circulating a sexually explicit video of her and the two men that was taken in December.
Police filed an affidavit for a search warrant last week to obtain the alleged video.
The woman said she went to a room in McMahon Hall on December 10 to hang out with one of the rowers, an 18-year-old man. However, she has “no memory of the incident happening,” according to court documents.
The woman told police the second rower, a 19-year-old man, was also in the room.
She told police she was intoxicated when she arrived at McMahon Hall, and she remembers laying on the bed next to the 18-year-old. However, she said she blacked out and doesn’t remember anything after that.
When the woman woke up in the morning, she asked the 19-year-old man what had happened, and he said, “I don’t know,” according to court documents.
Later when the woman asked the two men if anything had happened between the three of them that night, the men denied it, according to documents.
After learning about the circulating video, the woman went to UW’s Title IX Office to file a sexual assault report on April 10.
The investigation is ongoing.
“We take these matters very seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure the safety, health and well-being of our students,” Cohen said in a statement.
