On Thursday, Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel Sano was accused online of sexual assault in an incident with a photographer at a team event in 2015.
Photographer Betsy Bissen claimed that Sano grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her inside a mall bathroom after an autograph session. Bissen claimed that Sano, a 6’4, 260-pound third basemen and designated hitter, tried to kiss her multiple times.
The photographer’s tweets are now protected, but she posted a series of messages on Thursday that described in detail the encounter and the resulting trauma it caused. ESPN wrote about the incident and rounded up the tweets on Thursday, which cannot be viewed publicly any longer.
In them, Bissen expressed grief about the encounter and how Sano forced her to join him on a trip to an Apple Store in the mall.
“Every time he did, I said no and kept pulling back,” Bissen said in her Twitter post. “… I was in a squatted position with my wrist throbbing. I screamed, no one came to help me. He finally gave up after a solid ten mins of fighting to pull me thru that door.
“… Every time I have to hear how great people think Miguel Sano is, I’m reminded of how awful he actually is and how he hurt me.”
Sano issued a statement later on Thursday, denying that the incident occurred. Major League Baseball confirmed through a spokesperson that it was investigating the incident, but there’s no timeline for that investigation or any parameters for how it will be conducted.
