Hours after the public release of an independent report claiming Richie Incognito was the ringleader of an abusive Miami Dolphins locker room that drove Jonathan Martin to leave the team, Incognito's attorney has released a statement challenging the findings, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Richie Incognito’s attorney says Ted Wells report ‘replete with errors’
Incognito’s camp staunchly denied that the lineman or any of his teammates ever bullied Jonathan Martin.
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“Mr. Wells’ NFL report is replete with errors,” attorney Mark Schamel stated, referencing the 144-page document pieced together by Wells and the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. “The facts do not support a conclusion that Jonathan Martin’s mental health, drug use, or on field performance issues were related to the treatment by his teammates.
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“It is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising. The truth, as reported by the Dolphins players and as shown by the evidence, is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the Dolphins offensive line. We are analyzing the entire report and will release a thorough analysis as soon as it is ready.”
The rebuttal stands in stark contrast to the report’s conclusion that “Martin was taunted on a persistent basis with sexually explicit remarks about his sister and his mother and at times ridiculed with racial insults and other offensive comments.”
Wells singled out Incognito and fellow offensive lineman John Jerry and Mike Pouncey as the primary instigators of the harassment.
The report relied on more than 100 interviews with Dolphins executives, coaches and players and drew from thousands of documents, including vulgar text messages sent between Incognito and Martin.
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