Layshia Clarendon files lawsuit alleging sexual assault
By Ben Dull
News broke on Wednesday that Layshia Clarendon filed a lawsuit against Cal-Berkeley alleging she was sexually assaulted as a freshman at Cal by Mohamed Muqtar, an employee of their athletic department. Kate Fagan of ESPN was first to report the filing of the suit.
Clarendon is the All-Star point guard of the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. She played basketball at Cal from 2009 to 2013 prior to being selected ninth overall in the first round of the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
More from High Post Hoops
- Bet $5 on Sparks vs. Sky, Win $150 Instantly with Limited-Time DraftKings Promo
- Cash in for Over $2,000 With WNBA Promo Bonuses from FanDuel & Caesars
- FanDuel WNBA Promo Code Gives You $2,500 Bonus for ANY Game Tonight!
- Unlock $200 GUARANTEED With Crazy DraftKings WNBA Promo
- Unlock Over $4,500 Bonus With 3 Best WNBA Sportsbook Promos!
The suit names Muqtar as the defendent. It also claims negligence on the part of the regents of the university. Muqtar currently serves as the assistant athletic director for student services and has been employed by Cal for more than two decades. According to Clarendon, Muqtar was known to spend time with student-athletes away from campus.
Muqtar declined to comment when ESPN’s Outside the Lines reached out on Wednesday, per Fagan’s report.
Clarendon said the following on Twitter Wednesday afternoon:
"I want the shame to not be my own anymore, because it’s not my shame to carry, but it’s something that I’ve had to carry. It’s a horrible thing to live in silence, to carry that pain and that weight and the guilt.My biggest hope is that he never does this to anyone else. That no one else has to suffer under his hand, or him violating their bodies again. That this would be the end of him assaulting people. #TimesUpIt feels there is a big level of responsibility there for me, to make sure this doesn’t continue. And he doesn’t continue to harm other people."