The NFL’s Washington Commanders said Sunday they have released kicker Brandon McManus.
The measure, announced in yousocial media platformit came without a stated reason or any history.
McManus Faces a citizen suit of two women who allege he rubbed up against them and tried to kiss one of them while they were working as flight attendants on a team-chartered flight last year when he was still playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Commanders said last week that the team was “investigating the matter.”
Asked Sunday whether his release was related to the sexual misconduct allegations, Commanders spokesman Sean DeBarbieri said in an email: “We have nothing to add other than our roster change, which stated that we released Brandon McManus. team’s”.
The lawsuit in Duval County, Fla., court seeks more than $1 million in damages and names as defendants McManus and the Jaguars, his team at the time of the alleged Sept. 28 incident on an Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings flight from Florida. to England.
The Jaguars said they are aware of the allegations and are investigating. “It is worth emphasizing that we insist on an organization built by people who represent our community and game with the highest character and class,” the team said in a statement to NBC affiliate WTLV in Jacksonville.
An attorney for McManus, Brett R. Gallaway, responded to the lawsuit last week in a statement that called her allegations “demonstrably false.” The lawsuit, Gallaway said, amounted to “an extortion attempt.”
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday about the Commanders’ release of his client.
The lawsuit alleges that McManus recruited members of the flight crew to join him and some teammates at an impromptu in-flight party at which other flight attendants “drank and danced inappropriately.” The two women who filed the lawsuit did not participate, he claims.
McManus repeatedly attacked one of the two women, “apparently because she did not want to participate” in the festivities, the lawsuit states. He tried to kiss her and then grabbed her and rubbed himself against her so she could feel his erection, the document says.
He also grabbed and rubbed against the second plaintiff while she was serving meals on board, the suit alleges.
The women suffered mental anguish and “career interruption” as a result of their alleged actions, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges sexual assault and battery by McManus, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and gross negligence by the Jaguars. It alleges the team failed to “enforce a zero-tolerance policy related to inappropriate behavior” and failed to maintain a safe environment for the workers serving the team.
The plaintiffs want a jury trial.
Gallaway, McManus’ attorney, said in his deposition last week that the allegations are false.
“These are absolutely fictitious and demonstrably false allegations made as part of a campaign to defame and disparage a talented and respected NFL player,” he said.
McManus’ release leaves Commanders without a kicker, for now. McManus, who turns 33 in July, began his NFL career with the Denver Broncos in 2014. The Commanders signed him in March.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
