In an effort to clear his name of any wrongdoing in last week's arrest for allegedly punching a cab driver and using racial slurs, Ole Miss basketball coach Andy Kennedy has filed a defamation of character lawsuit against the cab driver and a valet who claims to have witnessed the event.
A civil complaint was filed in Cincinnati on Friday by Kennedy, according to his attorney, Richard Katz. The suit seeks more than $25,000 from cab driver Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou and Michael Strother, who told police he witnessed incident.
''This is totally out of character for Andy Kennedy," Katz said Saturday. "He's taken a lot of hits. So what we wanted to do was we wanted to look into the allegations that were being made, and we decided that we felt they were inappropriate allegations, and wrong. We wanted to try and clear Andy's name as quickly as possible and protect his family."
Kennedy and Ole Miss director of basketball operations Bill Armstrong were arrested at about 1 a.m. Thursday morning when Jiddou told police Kennedy "punched him with a closed fist and shouted racial slurs."
Kennedy pleaded not guilty Thursday in Municipal Court to the misdemeanor assault charges and strongly denied the accusations against him, just hours before the Rebels' game against Louisville that night. Armstrong was charged with disorderly conduct.
''An athlete, or a coach, when something happens, true or not true, he's going to have baggage for the rest of his career," Katz said. "We want to get rid of this as quickly as possible and get rid of this trash talk about his character over with. That's why we've raised these issues in this lawsuit. We want to clear his name and we want to get it out there that this is what happened."
Katz said Jiddou has repeated the story in several interviews since the incident, and claims that each time he tells it, the story changes.
Jiddou, a 25-year-old native of Mauritania, a northwest African country, said the incident occurred after he told Kennedy his cab couldn't handle the five people in his party because there were only four seat belts.
From there, he told reporters Kennedy began yelling and cussing at him and calling him "bin Laden" and "Saddam Hussein," and hit him in the face.
Katz said while the police report stated Jiddou claimed he was punched with a closed fist, the next morning on a Cincinnati radio show, Jiddou said there was a finger pushed in his face and he wasn't hurt. Katz also said that a 911 call that was later played from that evening contained a voice that said someone was trying to punch him and that he wasn't hurt.
Katz said Strother initially said he heard the racial slurs uttered by Kennedy, but later backed off that claim. He also said Strother admitted to seeing someone punch Jiddou through the driver's window. But that's not what the cab driver said, Katz said.
''If, in fact, the cab driver was correct, Andy was inside the car and there's no way the valet could have heard that. So if he heard that, it could have only happened if Andy was outside the car."
According to a story in the Cincinnati Enquirer on Saturday, Rusty O'Brien, Jiddou's lawyer, said Kennedy's suit is absurd.
''Any basketball coach knows that the best defense is a good offense," O'Brien told the Enquirer. ''The guy's back is up against the wall because he got caught red-handed, so he's coming out guns blazing.''
Meanwhile, Katz said Jiddou's inconsistent stories will catch up with him.
"Once you're out there with all kinds of different stories, you're credibility is an issue," Katz said.
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Comments » 26
rabidvol1998 writes:
Can't we all just get along?
doctorfingervol writes:
That Nazi basketball coach how dare he!
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
'the best defense is a good offesne' ...never heard that one before. It's true in war, not in sports. sports ain't war, sports are sports.
doctorfingervol writes:
Do you guys think that this will hurt the way Kennedy recruits Northwest Africa?
GR82BAVOL writes:
IF he's guilty, he's certainly doing everything he can to secure his job.
dvols writes:
what did he do wrong!
TommyJack writes:
A non-story
CoverOrange writes:
Why do they take quotes from lawyers. They have nothing relevant to say.
Whitepine, I hope you're asking just because you're curious.
BigMix writes:
Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou; I bet homeland security has a tap on this name.
JimBobJumpback writes:
Unlikely that a punch was thrown. Most cabbies are A-holes.
No harm, no foul.
jsbrown writes:
What are Kennedy and his assistants doing out at 1 a.m. on the morning of a game? I am sure his players would be in trouble for breaking curfew like that. Also, my understanding was that Kennedy was at a bar before this incident occurred. Not good on a road trip. I agree that he is trying to take the offensive in this matter to save his job....Ole Miss is pretty conservative.
volnbig11land writes:
I work here in Cincy and it's not getting much air time around here. About the only thing being said is that it happened at some private lodge.
Like some else said, why was he out at that time of night/morning the day of a game?
spencer1989#206886 writes:
This is old news....I read this on another website at least one day ago.
CoverOrange writes:
I'm not sure Mississippi has an extradition agreement with Ohio.
Some of you guys know what is written on the Statue of Liberty? Apparently Pennington was on to something here.
ctownvol writes:
Well aren't you just hilarious?
ctownvol writes:
Kennedy's a man. He's 40. If he wans to have a beer. Fine. Curfew is for players. Not coaches. Granted. The coaches being out late drinking on a night before the game isn't much of an example. I do agree with that, but he is 40 years old.
BigOrangeVol writes:
They are only pressing counter charges so they can turn around and throw some money at the two guys to make them settle, pay 'em off and then go away. Basic legal posturing from a position of wealth to someone who is poor.
volnbig11land writes:
WOW I stand corrected from my earlier post. I went out at lunch and this story is all 700 WLW is talking about.
For what its worth the court of public opinion here in Cincy has already decided this is going to cost Kennedy a lot of money...
bobbarbilly writes:
I think that the phrase " set-up" has been overlooked here. These kind of scams are rather common in some countries and why should we not expect them to follow their countrymen.
TommyJack writes:
Besides, he was probably recruiting.
ctownvol writes:
Good point.
TommyJack writes:
You mean license? I know, I know..another typo.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
Poor little Moslem should have stayed in Mauritania where it's all love and peace and roses! If these Moselem countries were so great, what the hell are they all doing coming over here!!! And when we go over there and try to help them out, then we're the bad guys, and should let them and their rotten cultures just go to hell!
GR82BAVOL writes:
Yep, looks like they're posturing for a settlement.
That'll be some tip eh?
GreerVol22 writes:
Imagine the headline...."Kennedy attacks Bin Laden in the Queen City"
BigMix writes:
Don't you mean inbred "hillbilly" East Tennessee idiots? Obtw, do you think that if we didn't make jokes about the these radical cultures that they would stop what they are doing? The radicalist want you, me, TommyJack, workinlikeheck, John Adums, Moanin, bama987, my dog, someones cat, Lane Kiffin and his hot wife, Barrakh Obama, the Olsen twins, Papa John Jr, and the list goes on and on till we all are wiped out. It's folks like you that will bring this country to it's knee and it's folks like me that will be there to push you out of the way and defend our country and lift it back up. Merry Christmas to all except those celebrating kwanzaa.
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