Houston Texans safety Jimmie Ward, who was arrested in June on a felony domestic violence charge, is now being sued by the woman he allegedly assaulted.
The woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Harris County (Texas) District Court alleging she was "violently assaulted multiple times, both sexually and physically" by Ward, including in the presence of their 3-year-old child.
She is seeking damages of more than $20 million. Her attorney, Tony Buzbee, represented multiple women in their sexual misconduct/assault cases against former Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
In the lawsuit against Ward, the plaintiff also accuses him of emotional abuse, financial manipulation, drug use and threats against her life. She said that in the early morning hours leading to Ward's June 12 arrest, he slapped her, choked her, threatened her and forced her to perform oral sex, and that when she had an opportunity to escape, she took their child and ran naked into the street, where she called 911.
The suit says that since Ward's arrest, he has contacted the woman, a violation of his bond agreement. He was also arrested earlier this month for another violation after testing positive for alcohol.
"Our main focus right now is the grand jury, that is set for first week of September, to try to convince the grand jury that Jimmy should not be indicted," Ward's attorney, Stephen Jackson, told ESPN. "We're going to take this one step at a time. We're going to focus on the criminal allegations to try to get those dismissed, and then we'll focus on the civil suit."
When contacted by ESPN, the Texans declined to comment.
The NFL said in June that it was aware of Ward's arrest and was in contact with the Texans. Houston general manager Nick Caserio, asked about Ward's initial arrest on the first day of training camp, said the team would "kind of let the legal process take care of itself."
"We will work with the league. We will be compliant on our end, do the best we can," Caserio said. "Whatever the outcome is, we'll handle it accordingly."
Ward, 34, was put on the Texans' physically unable to perform list because of a foot injury to start training camp and has not been activated.
His criminal case is scheduled to go to a grand jury on Aug. 31.