Following a judge’s decision that he was competent to be questioned regarding the alleged abuse, the 88-year-old doctor who is accused of sexually assaulting Indiana University basketball players in the 1990s will be deposed on Wednesday.
Following the doctor’s interrogation at the federal courthouse in Indianapolis, Magistrate Judge Mario Garcia stated in a ruling on Tuesday that Dr. Bradford Bomba Sr. was able to correctly distinguish between the truth and a falsehood.
According to court documents dated November 27, Bomba’s guardian, Joseph Bomba, requested that the deposition be postponed, claiming that the former IU team doctor is unable of testifying because he lacks the mental capacity to distinguish between truth and falsity. Garcia then delivered the decision.
The judge didn’t agree.
In reaching this conclusion, the Court takes into account Dr. Bomba’s memory of his schooling and comprehension of fundamental ideas, as well as his ease and self-assurance during the hearing, observing that he showed no signs of nervousness or concern, Garcia concluded. The Court also takes into account Dr. Bomba’s knowledge of the whole scope of the proceedings, his attorneys’ identities and roles in them, and his willingness to heed their counsel.
Charlie Miller and Haris Mujezinovic, who were teammates of the Hoosiers under the renowned coach Bob Knight in the 1990s, filed a case in the U.S. District Court for Southern Indiana two months ago. They said that despite knowing that Bomba was exposing basketball players to needless prostate exams, their trainers and coaches took no action to stop him.
There may be at least 100 alleged victims in the complaint, according to Kathleen Delaney, who is Mujezinovic and Miller’s attorney.
The lawsuit accused Indiana University of violating Title IX by failing to safeguard the students and named the university’s trustees as defendants. Universities that accept federal assistance are obligated by that federal legislation to have safety measures in place to safeguard students against predators.
Bomba and Knight, who passed away last year at the age of 83, were not named as defendants.
Delaney verified that all of the attorneys involved consented to hold the deposition in the offices of William J. Beggs, the Bloomington, Indiana, attorney representing Bomba, but he declined to comment on the most recent legal development on Tuesday.
NBC News emailed Beggs for comment, but he did not reply.
In an email, university spokesperson Mark Bode stated that the Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg legal firm represents Indiana University.
According to the lawsuit, Bomba was employed by IU from 1962 to 1970 to provide medical care for all of its sports teams. From 1979 until the late 1990s, he served as the team’s doctor for basketball.
In their case, Mujezinovic and Miller claimed that Bomba frequently and routinely performed abusive, intrusive, and medically unwarranted digital rectal examinations on them.
According to the lawsuit, Bomba was known as Frankenstein by coaches and teammates because of the size of his hands and fingers while playing football for Indiana University.
The lawsuit claims that the Hoosier men’s basketball players freely discussed Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s frequent sexual assaults in the locker room while IU staff members, such as assistant coaches, athletic trainers, and other Hoosier men’s basketball staff, were there.
Miller, who played for the Hoosiers from 1994 to 1998, and Mujezinovic, who played for Indiana for two seasons from 1995 to 1997, are requesting undisclosed damages. Former teammates have also been urged to come forward and join their case.
A similar controversy involving a team doctor at a rival university is echoed by the claims that IU ignored claims of a team doctor sexually assaulting athletes. Former wrestlers at Ohio State University said in 2018 that their coaches were aware that Dr. Richard Strauss, who passed away in 2005, was taking advantage of them but did nothing about it.
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