ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia said Thursday he was "falsely accused" in a 1996 sexual assault allegation that resurfaced this week, and he indicated the matter has not been an issue as he has climbed from job to job in the years since.
Patricia held a brief news conference one day after a Detroit News report that he and a friend were indicted 22 years ago by a Texas grand jury on one count each of aggravated sexual assault. They were accused of assaulting a woman on South Padre Island. The accuser did not testify, and the case was dismissed.
"I was innocent then, and I am innocent now," Patricia said.
The Lions said a pre-employment background check did not turn up the incident and that they were standing by Patricia.
An NFL spokesman said Thursday the league "will review the matter with the club to understand the allegations and what the club has learned."
"I'm here to defend my honor and clear my name. Twenty-two years ago, I was falsely accused of something very serious," Patricia said. "There were claims made about me that never happened. While I'm thankful on one level that the process worked and the case was dismissed, at the same time, I was never given the opportunity to defend myself."
The Detroit News, citing a March 1996 story in the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, said Patricia and a friend were accused of entering the hotel room where the woman was sleeping and sexually assaulting her. The men were arrested later that night and released on bond, according to the story and court records.
The indictment came that August, but the case was eventually dismissed. The Detroit News posted a motion to dismiss from January 1997, which said the alleged victim did not feel she could "face the pressures or stress of a trial."
