Bryant’s version of the events differed from the accuser’s. He was questioned by police at around 11:30 p.m. the day after the alleged sexual assault at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera.
“Um, she showed me around the pool, showing me around, um, we went to my room, she showed me the back view where the bears come up to the window, and that’s about ****ing it, we shot the **** and that was it,” Bryant told police. He then denied three times that anything had happened with the woman to police, and when informed that the accuser had made an allegation of sexual assault against him, told the officers, “Is there any way I can settle this whatever it is, I mean…?” asked Bryant. “If my wife, if my wife found out that anybody made any type of allegations against me, she would be infuriated.”
When police informed him that the accuser had submitted to a physical exam and they’d taken semen and blood evidence from her person, Bryant admitted that the two had sex. “Uh, this is what I need to know because uh, I did have sexual intercourse with her,” said Bryant, adding, “It was totally consensual.”
Bryant told the officers that when he and the accuser got back to the room, she showed him her back tattoo and then kissed him, and they began to kiss. When the officers asked Bryant whether she said no or resisted, Bryant replied, “OK. I’m thinking, I’m thinking, I’m thinking. (Pause.) I’m trying to think of the conversation we had.”
He admitted that he “held [the accuser] from the back” and that the sex lasted “about five minutes.”
The officers then asked Bryant, “Did you ever ask her if you wanted, if you could *** in her face?” “Yes,” Bryant replied, adding, “That’s when she said no. That’s when she said no. That’s when she said no.”
Bryant contended that the woman gave him oral sex for approximately “five seconds” prior to the sex, and that everything was “consensual.”
At one point, when police described the accuser as “attractive,” Bryant corrected them. “She wasn’t that attractive,” said Bryant. Then, when officers asked him about “finishing,” he replied, “I didn’t finish a ****ing thing,” adding, “I jerked off when she left.” When asked by officers if he’d ever cheated on his wife before, Bryant replied, “Um, yes, with one other person. And she could actually testify I do that um, I do the same thing, I hold her from the back, I put my hands (inaudible).”
“Her name is Michelle,” continued Bryant, adding she’s a “frequent” partner of his.
Police then inform Bryant that the accuser “has a bruise on her neck,” to which he replied, “Yeah I mean that’s you know me and Michelle, that’s what we, we do the same thing,” said Bryant. When officers ask Bryant how often he has sex with “Michelle,” he replies, “A lot. She’ll tell you the same ****.”
