Peyton Manning gives his side of alleged assault in 2003 affidavit

In a 2003 affidavit released recently by Tennessee television WATE, Peyton Manning gives his version of the events that led a former University of Tennessee trainer to accuse him of sexual assault.

In a 2003 affidavit released recently by Tennessee television station WATE, Peyton Manning gives his version of the events that led a former University of Tennessee trainer to accuse him of sexual assault.

The full document can be read here. 

Manning says Dr. Jamie Naughright was crouched on the ground examining his foot when another athlete, Malcolm Saxon, “made a comment to me intended as a joke regarding my then-girlfriend (now my wife), the substance of which I cannot recall. After hearing this comment, I pulled down my shorts for about one second to expose my buttocks to him, or is as colloquially know, to ‘moon’ him.”

“I immediately pulled my shorts back up while [Naughright] continued to examine my foot,” Manning continues. “My shorts were never down farther than exposing my buttocks. I did not pull them down to my ankles.”

Manning’s account differs from Naughright's. She alleged that Manning “forcefully maneuvered his naked testicles and rectum directly” onto her face. According to Naughright, Manning “smirked” and “laughed” about it.

Manning says in the affidavit that he initially “did not believe that she saw my mooning of Mr. Saxon.” He also claims that he repeatedly tried to apologize to Naughright after Tennessee's head football trainer, Mike Rollo, suggested doing so. He ended up sending an apology card to Naughright after she did not return his calls. 

Manning also described the incident in the book he wrote with his father and co-author John Underwood. 

“Even when she did, it seemed like something she'd have laughed at, considering the environment, or shrugged off as harmless. Crude, maybe, but harmless,” Manning says in the book. His account led Naughright to sue for defamation.

- Dan Gartland