Police release ’04 report claiming assault by Nassar
Police in Meridian Township declined in 2004 to seek charges against Larry Nassar despite a claim by a 17-year-old patient that the sports medicine doctor touched her bare breast and put his hands on her vagina.
Instead, the department accepted Nassar’s story that the procedure he performed on Brianne Randall-Gay was a medical technique, according to a newly released police report obtained Wednesday by The Detroit News.
Meridian Township police investigator Andrew McCready wrote in the Sept. 23, 2004, report that Nassar told police he did touch Brianne Randall-Gay during an exam on Sept. 16, 2004. The high school student had come to Nassar for treatment of back pain.
Nassar told police he touched Randall-Gay “in the perineum” and the procedure was a “medical technique” to relieve pressure from a ligament that runs through the pelvic region.
Nassar provided police with a Power Point presentation titled “The Grand Junction,” with photographs of himself demonstrating the technique.
Randall-Gay told police while Nassar was massaging her back during the appointment, he put his bare hand on her vagina under her clothes and tried to insert his finger in her vagina. He later rubbed her bare breasts for 10-15 minutes.
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In the report, McCready informs Randall-Gay’s mother of Nassar’s explanation and the department’s decision to close the case and not refer the matter to prosecutors to review for possible criminal charges.
Randall-Gay’s mother told police she had concerns – not about the medical procedure – but in the way Nassar described it to her daughter. She also was troubled by the fact that Nassar did not wear gloves, the report says.
Police said they would “pass her concerns along to Dr. Nassar” and then informed her they would be closing the case with no prosecution “due to the facts presented to me by Dr. Nassar.”
Randall-Gay went to local police on Sept. 17, 2004, the day after her second visit with Nassar for back pain and a scoliosis condition. She told police that during the exam, while Nassar was massaging her back, he put his bare hand on her vagina under her clothes.
“He told her this would relieve the tension in her back and buttocks,” the police report says. “He was pressing hard on her vagina and it hurt Randall.”
Randall-Gay told police that Nassar was trying to put his finger inside her vagina but could not because she was wearing a tampon, the report states.
Nassar massaged her back and crotch area for 20 minutes before he moved his hands under her gown and placed his hands on her bare breasts, the report says.
“He was ‘rubbing around’ and ‘squeezing’ her breasts. He told her this would also relieve the tension in her back and buttocks. He continued to do this for 10 to 15 minutes,” the report says.
Randall-Gay, a high school soccer and tennis player, told a high school friend and then her mother about the visit. The next day, she and her mother came to police to file the report. Police sent her to Sparrow Hospital for a rape kit exam.
The completed exam was turned over to police on Sept. 18, 2004. It was logged into evidence.
Randall-Gay said on Wednesday she was speaking with her attorneys and would comment at a later time.
In an interview in January, Randall-Gay, now 30, told The Detroit News she was disappointed by how police had handled her complaint against Nassar.
“Larry said it was a misunderstanding because I was not a gymnast and not as comfortable with my body and that was where the misunderstanding was,” she said. “The police ... just took his word.”
Meridian Township police released the 2004 report on Wednesday, the same day Nassar was in court for a second round of sentencing on multiple rape charges involving his patients.
Police Chief David Hall said Wednesday the department is not making any statements yet but would at a press conference on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the township hall.
The press conference “is a chance for us to offer an apology to Brianne and we will be available for questions at that time,” Hall said.
A Freedom of Information Act request seeking the report from Meridian police had been denied.
On Wednesday, the department issued a statement saying at the time of the request, the township denied disclosure of the requested records because they were exempt from disclosure as part of the investigation being conducted by the state Attorney General’s office in connection with its prosecution Nassar.
“Recently, however, the Attorney General’s office advised the Township that it no longer objects to the Township disclosing these records. As a result, the Township is voluntarily disclosing the 2004 investigative report you previously requested,” the statement said.
Nassar has pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. In the first case, in Ingham County, he was sentenced last week to 40-175 years in prison. In the second case, in Eaton County, his sentencing hearing began Wednesday, with prosecutors seeking 40-125 years.
Eaton County Judge Janice K. Cunningham said Wednesday that 265 women have come forward as victims of Nassar.
JChambers@detroitnews.com