A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted inside an Atlanta nightclub last month is now suing the Midtown venue, arguing the club did not have adequate security the night she was attacked.
At a Tuesday press conference, lawyers for Jasmine Eiland alleged that Opera Atlanta failed to monitor certain areas of the nightclub during the Jan. 19 incident, which was streamed on Facebook Live, local station WSB-TV reported. Attorney Chris Stewart said there was only a quarter of the security that normally would’ve been working that night.
Jasmine Eiland became emotional as her lawyer played new video of her alleged sexual assault inside Opera nightclub. (WSB-TV / video screenshot)
Eiland, who made her first public appearance on Tuesday, was at the club celebrating a birthday when the alleged assault unfolded. She told Atlanta police someone had slipped drugs into her drink, then violated her on the dance floor.
The young woman was already filming her birthday festivities on Facebook and continued streaming as she was assaulted from behind. In the videos, she is heard begging for help and shouting “please stop” over the booming music. A Facebook user witnessed the attack in real time and contacted police to report a Black woman being “groped on her chest” and possibly “raped” on the dance floor.
“I’m going to continue to fight,” Eiland said at the news conference, holding back tears. “I am a victim, but I’m a survivor as well. I just want to thank everybody.”
WSB-TV reported that there is new video of the alleged assault, which was played during Tuesday’s news conference. At one point, Eiland became emotional and had to leave the room.
Her attorney said he believes the club was short-staffed the night of the attack because there was a hip-hop concert going on. Stewart told the station he tried getting answers about the club’s security without getting litigation involved. However, he said when the venue’s owners, who took over the club three months ago, ignored him, he scheduled the press conference to announce the lawsuit.
Suspect Dominique Williams, 34, turned himself into the Fulton County Jail on Jan. 29 and was subsequently charged with aggravated sodomy. A second unnamed woman has since come forward to accuse Williams of assaulting her as well.
His lawyer, Atlanta-based attorney Shequel Ross, has maintained her client’s innocence, saying, “The facts of this case do not prove that my client led [Eiland] off, abused her, misused her or raped her.”
Watch more in the video below.
