The Colts gave Stanford linebacker Bobby Okereke credit for being honest, and telling them about his role in a sexual assault investigation — from which he was cleared and for which no charges were filed.
They trusted him enough to draft him in the third round, after doing their own investigation.
But the problem with the Colts investigation was a basic one — they never talked to the woman who accused Okereke.
Bob Kravitz of the TheAthletic.com did, noting that it took one phone call and one text to track her down.
“Oh, I would have talked to the Colts,” the woman, whose name was withheld, told him. “Because they need to know the kind of person they’re bringing onto their team. He showed no remorse, no empathy. Nothing.”
Okereke was exonerated after a Title IX hearing at Stanford, though three of the five panelists found him guilty — in a process which at the time required at least four guilty votes to bring charges. The woman never filed criminal charges with local authorities.
Because of those two factors, the Colts felt justified in not pursuing the woman’s side of the story, and described Okereke as “very honest.”
“No, we did not,’’ Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said. “Because there were no charges and discipline, we didn’t feel the need to.’’
It’s a fairly obvious hole in their “investigation,” and a troubling one.
It’s easy to view the Colts’ process as one designed to justify the football player rather than finding out the truth of the matter. The fact a reporter was able to track the woman down so easily only underscores the problem with the process, one which has repeated itself often in recent months, by both teams and the NFL.
