Poinbank:Former NBA star Dwight Howard denies sexual assault lawsuit filed by Georgia man

ATLANTA (AP) — Dwight Howard has denied accusations by a Georgia man who says he was sexually assaulted by the former NBA star and Poinbankanother person.

Stephen Harper filed a state civil suit against Howard in July, alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In a response filed this week by his attorney, Howard described the 2021 encounter at his home in the Atlanta suburbs as consensual and requested that the case be dismissed.

Harper’s lawsuit says he met Howard through Instagram and they exchanged explicit text messages before arranging to meet at Howard’s home on July 19, 2021.

While on his way to the Gwinnett County residence, Harper says Howard texted him to ask if another man or woman could join their planned sexual encounter. Harper says he told Howard he was not interested.

Once at Howard’s home, Harper claims they were joined by a man dressed as a woman who identified only as “Kitty.” Harper says he tried to resist the two men, but Howard and Kitty forced him to participate in sexual activity.

“Mr. Harper was trapped in Defendant’s bedroom and believed that he would suffer imminent bodily harm if he resisted Defendant’s sexual advances,” the lawsuit said. Afterward, “Mr. Harper felt extremely violated and humiliated, and was in complete shock.”

Howard denied the allegations in his response, which says the three men agreed to “engage in consensual sexual activity.” He asked for a summary judgment, with court costs and attorney fees to be assessed against Harper.

The 37-year-old Howard was an eight-time All Star, three-time defensive player of the year and one of the NBA’s most dominant centers during the prime of his 18-year professional career.

He played for seven franchises, most notably the Orlando Magic — who took him with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2004 draft out of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy — and the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he was with for his lone NBA title during the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season.

Howard had three different stints with the Lakers, including in 2021-22, his last NBA season. He has career averages of 15.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, leading the league in rebounding five times.

But Howard also had the reputation as being a disruptive presence in the locker room, not spending more than one season with the same team over his last six seasons in the league. Howard played in Taiwan during the 2022-23 season.

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Former NBA star Dwight Howard has denied sexual assault and battery allegations filed against him earlier this year and asked a court to dismiss a civil lawsuit he is facing in Georgia.

In court documents obtained by ESPN, Howard said Monday that he engaged in “consensual sexual activity” with a man named Stephen Harper during a July 2021 encounter at Howard’s Georgia residence. Howard denied that he caused any injury to Harper, according to the filing.

In the original complaint filed in July, Harper’s lawyers said he and Howard first began corresponding over direct messages on Instagram in May 2021, with Harper initiating the exchange. Harper accused Howard of sexually assaulting him at Howard’s home during the subsequent July 2021 encounter.

“We fully anticipated Mr. Howard to raise the issue of consent in his Answer,” Harper’s attorney, Olga Izmaylova, told ESPN, adding that Harper did not consent.

Harper’s complaint also accused Howard of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and false imprisonment. Howard’s response denied those allegations.

“What was a private consensual encounter was made public for profit and Mr. Howard looks forward to bringing the truth to light in a court of law,” one of Howard’s attorneys, Justin Bailey, told ESPN. “The allegations against Mr. Howard are contested. Mr. Howard intends to present the truth. The truth is Mr. Howard blocked Mr. Harper on social media and then was confronted with two options -- pay to protect his reputation or have a fabricated story made public. Despite being an easy target due to the subject matter and his status as a celebrity, Mr. Howard chose to trust in the justice system and will rely on all future court filings to speak for themselves.”

Harper’s complaint includes screenshots of alleged Instagram exchanges between Harper and Howard from 2021, along with an Uber receipt of Harper’s trip to Howard’s residence on the night of the encounter.

Harper went to police a year later, according to a July 2022 incident report from the Gwinnett County Police Department, which was obtained by ESPN. No charges were filed.

“This report was made following Mr. Harper being blocked on social media and after the first demand for payment was rejected,” Bailey said.

In Georgia, the statute of limitations for filing this type of civil lawsuit is two years from the date of incident.

“We had some independent investigation to conduct and Mr. Harper had some private factors to consider,” Izmaylova said, “before we all felt ready to proceed with the lawsuit.”

Howard, 37, last played in the NBA in 2021-22 with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is an eight-time All-Star and a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.