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By The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 21, 1996
SALT LAKE CITY - A woman has sued NBA star forward Dennis Rodman, claiming he pinched her during a Utah Jazz-San Antonio Spurs game two years ago.Lavon Ankers, who was a Delta Center usher at the May 5, 1994, game against the Utah Jazz, alleges Rodman pinched her buttocks after running out of bounds to grab a ball.
''As defendant Rodman walked past the plaintiff, he placed his hand on the plaintiff's buttocks and pinched her,'' according to the civil suit filed last week in U.S. District Court. ''The touching and pinching was witnessed by bystanders and spectators.''
The suit also states that a broadcast transmission of the game shows Rodman walking past Ankers, turning around and ''apparently touching her on the backside.''
Ankers, who is seeking $750,000 in damages, claims she was ''greatly humiliated, shamed, embarrassed and endured great mental suffering.''
Ankers' attorney Harry Caston said he and his client decided to file the suit after receiving no response from Rodman's agent in an attempt to resolve the matter without litigation.
''Frankly, she didn't invite or in any way ask Rodman to touch or pinch her on the buttocks,'' Caston said. ''It's been something that she doesn't think is funny and never thought was funny ... and it's undignified.''
Ankers, who is still employed at the Delta Center, did not return a telephone message left at her home.
A call seeking comment from Rodman's representatives with the Rodman Group also was not immediately returned.
Rodman, 35, played for the NBA-champion Chicago Bulls last season and signed a one-year contract with the team earlier this month.
He averaged 14.9 rebounds last season while winning his fifth straight NBA rebounding title. Chicago acquired him from the San Antonio Spurs for Will Perdue last October.
Rodman, who earned the moniker ''The Worm'' during his years with the Detroit Pistons, made $2.5 million last season as the Bulls won the NBA championship and set a league record with a 72-10 regular-season mark.
He was the subject of another lawsuit last year by Lisa Beth Judd, who claimed Rodman infected her with an incurable sexually transmitted disease on Jan. 14, 1993. Rodman said there was no evidence he suffered from a transmittable form of herpes, and a U.S. District Court jury ruled in his favor.
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