Bills Player Maxwell Hairston Faces Sexual Assault Lawsuit
A woman from Ohio has filed a lawsuit against Maxwell Hairston, the first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills, accusing him of sexual assault in 2021. The incident allegedly occurred when both were students at the University of Kentucky.
According to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Hairston met the plaintiff, identified as Rebecca Hendryx, in early 2021, when they lived in the same dormitory.
The lawsuit alleges that in March of that year, Hairston went to Hendryx’s room uninvited and followed her inside after she refused to go out with him. After Hendryx “expressed on several occasions her lack of interest in having sexual relations with him,” Hairston “forcibly removed” her pajama pants and sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit.
Hairston, who has not been accused of any crime, and his agent did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
A Bills spokesperson declined to comment, referring to general manager Brandon Beane’s statements in April, after the team selected Hairston with the thirtieth pick in the NFL draft. At the time, Beane said the team “thoroughly investigated” a 2021 sexual assault allegation, that Hairston was “a clean kid” and “there doesn’t seem to be anything there.”
According to the lawsuit, Hendryx reported the alleged incident to the authorities “within hours” and received an examination from a sexual assault forensic nurse (SANE) at the hospital after speaking with the police. The lawsuit does not specify the outcome of Hendryx’s police report or the SANE examination, and Hendryx’s lawyers declined to provide any police or university documents they might have “because certain information must be kept confidential.”
A Lexington police spokeswoman said the department had no report matching an accusation of sexual assault against Hairston. A spokesperson for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Dani Jaffe, a spokesperson for the University of Kentucky and the university police, said he could not comment on the lawsuit, but that “allegations of sexual assault are thoroughly investigated and may involve police, Title IX, student conduct officials, and other legal entities. If and when charges are warranted, or if a student is found to have violated our Student Code of Conduct, such charges and disciplinary actions are brought and aggressively pursued to protect our students.”
According to the lawsuit, Hendryx transferred from the university in 2021.
