My mistake- I was so caught up in making sure Chris didn't beat me that I failed to notice that VikingsFanNM did. Good job catching that story, sorry for unintentionally upstaging you!
Ugh... crap. OK, but no matter what this turns out to be... just remember that Cedric Griffin is ridiculously awesome.
WCCO-TV is reporting that a woman has filed a restraining order against Vikings defensive line coach Karl Dunbar. The restraining order is intended to last for two years, and is to keep Dunbar off of her property. According to the accuser, he has shown up twice at her house after, according to her, a sexual assault that occurred in April. The quote regarding her reasons for a restraining order is that she is "afraid of retribution and unsure of his behavior", according to the legal paperwork.
There are a few things to think about here. First off, should the allegations here be true, that's pretty serious stuff. Dunbar has been rather successful as our D-line coach, but I would imagine that the Vikings might consider opening an investigation of their own into this, and would likely consider some pretty significant punishment should the allegations be proven true- with being outright fired something that I wouldn't consider as out of the equation. Remember, the league is not allowed to punish players for off the field misconduct (although they have stated they will do so for misbehavior during the lockout once a new CBA is signed), but that doesn't extend to coaches and other staff, such as Dunbar.
The other side to this, however, is that Dunbar has not been charged with any crime, and the article indicates that that will remain the case. Personally, it's quite interesting to me that this woman would file a restraining order, but not seek to have him charged for the sexual assault. That said, I can personally attest to the fact that crimes of a sexual nature can cause victims to act differently than victims of other crimes- I ran several women's' self defense courses where attendees had been victims of sexual crimes of varying natures, with most having never gone to the authorities. So, just because the woman never legally accused Dunbar of the sexual assault does not mean it never happened. That said, without that charge, Dunbar might be scott free here even if he is guilty- after all, Ben Roethlisberger was considered a repeat offender of sorts, but thanks to zero legal action, his penalty was rather lenient.
And of course- and hopefully, I should add- there is always the possibility that the woman is off her rocker. Dunbar's attorney has stated that there are ‘two sides to the story'... not quite sure what that means or how to take it, but again, there is the possibility that this entire thing is entirely unfounded, and that Dunbar is guilty of squat.
Either way, this is something I'll be keeping an eye on, because again the ramifications could be quite serious.