Three women’s soccer players sue Butler for alleged sexual assault by athletic trainer

Content warning: This story addresses allegations of sexual abuse and may be difficult to read and emotionally upsetting.

Three women’s soccer players are suing Butler University for sexual assault they say they experienced at the hands of an athletic trainer employed by the university. All three soccer players are suing for negligence, battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Two of the players suing Butler remain student-athletes at the university.

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All three lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on Wednesday on behalf of the individual players, identified in their respective complaints as “Jane Doe 1-3.” The suits allege similar complaints against the trainer, Michael Howell, who is a co-defendant in the lawsuit. All three women say Howell sexually assaulted them during treatment sessions; Jane Does 1 and 2 also say in their complaints that he began grooming them during their freshman year. Jane Doe 2 said the sexual assaults she experienced began during her freshman season in 2019 and lasted into her junior year, in 2021, when he allegedly began to assault Jane Doe 1.

The lawsuits detail a culture in which Howell enjoyed a close relationship with one of the team’s coaches, wielded power over athletes’ treatment and playing time, and so routinely exposed players’ intimate body parts during massages that they coined a term for it, calling it “the breeze.” One player said that he threatened her by claiming he “knew everything about her” including her social security number, and said he had files of photos with players engaging in underage drinking. Another player said that Howell told her he knew where she lived and referenced the pillow he had seen through her