The attorney for a woman at the center of an alleged sexual assault captured on Facebook Live from inside a popular Atlanta nightclub is offering shocking new details regarding the incident.
Attorney L. Chris Stewart‘s office is conducting an independent investigation into the alleged assault against accuser Jasmine Eiland inside the club Saturday night, the firm announced in a press release. Disturbing video from the incident, which has since been pulled from social media, appeared to show a Black male sexually assault Eiland on the dance floor as she repeatedly cried out, “stop, please somebody help me.”
While the Atlanta Police Department conducts its own review of the incident, Stewart and his office are now working to get to the bottom of a second assault they believe may have occurred. The attorney told Atlanta Black Star there’s another video of Eiland being carried into a separate room inside the venue. In it, Stewart said his client is heard “moaning” and begging her assailant to stop.
“They were somewhere else; they’re not in that big room in the club,” he said, noting how the booming music gradually faded away. “We want to now why in the hell she was allowed to be taken into some room in that club.”
As reported by station Channel 2 Action News, Eiland was at the club that night celebrating a birthday when the assault unfolded. She told police she believed someone slipped drugs into her drink, then sexually assaulted her as she danced.
Stewart said his client only remembers bits and pieces from that night and recalls waking up outside the club, where an employee offered her water. Eiland had only had 2 1/2 drinks, according to her attorney.
Rumors also surfaced that Eiland had participated in a dance contest a some point that night, though it’s unclear whether that happened before or after she was drugged.
“I’ve handled a number of these sexual assault cases and … delirium and aggressiveness and loss of self-control are definite tell-tale signs of being date raped,” Stewart explained. “Then you suddenly crash and you go in and out of consciousness. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was dancing … because, you know, you’ve been drugged. You’re out of your mind.”
It was ultimately a 911 call from a Facebook user that triggered APD’s response to the club that night. A police report from the incident stated that the caller told authorities she saw a Facebook video of a Black woman being “groped on her chest” and possibly “raped” from behind as she loudly protested. ABS has submitted an open records request for that audio.
Officers arrived at the club on Crescent Avenue to investigate but could not locate the victim. Police reviewed the video again and realized it was recorded an hour before they’d arrived. It’s unclear if the incident was captured on surveillance footage inside the club.
In the report, the responding officer noted that the woman in the video never contacted police about the incident. Authorities aren’t naming the man involved, but said they have been in contact with him.
In a statement, Opera said it is cooperating with the police investigation.
“At this time we have met with the Atlanta Police Department and have provided them with everything they have requested,” management for the nightclub wrote in a Sunday Facebook post. “We’ll continue to aid and support their investigation in any way we can.”
Stewart’s office is also looking to bring their client justice and said it hopes to gain more details from the club and club employees about that night as their investigation progresses.
“We’re going to keep gathering information,” he told ABS. “Former employees have tried to contact us and say … they know stuff. We just want more witnesses to come forward.”
