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Lawsuit, ex-student focus on complaints about Ohio State doc

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Four former wrestlers say in a new lawsuit that Ohio State University officials ignored repeated complaints about “rampant sexual misconduct” by a now-dead team doctor, and a former student confirmed Tuesday that investigators have documentation about at least one decades-old incident that prompted a complaint.

Former student Steve Snyder-Hill said he wrote to a student health center official in the 1990s after being examined by Dr. Richard Strauss, whose behavior is the subject of an independent investigation that began months ago.

Ohio State says allegations raised in recent months about Strauss involve male athletes from 14 sports, as well as the physician’s work at the student health center and his off-campus medical office.

Snyder-Hill said he went to the health center because of a lump on his chest, but Strauss also conducted a genital exam and pressed himself into him, at which point the patient realized the doctor had an erection.

Snyder-Hill said officials responding to his complaint back then told him Strauss denied having an erection and said he was just doing his job.

Snyder-Hill said he told the officials he wanted to be notified if they ever got another complaint about Strauss, and he never heard more about it. He said he thought he’d put Strauss on notice that such behavior shouldn’t happen.

“I felt very, very secure that that guy isn’t going to do this again,” Snyder-Hill said. “I thought I stopped him.”

Snyder-Hill said he contacted the investigators who are looking into Strauss after seeing news reports about former athletes and students who have raised allegations about Strauss in recent months, and the investigators confirmed having some paperwork about the incident that led to his complaint. It was first reported by The Columbus Dispatch.

The athletes’ allegations moved into the courts this week with the filing of a federal lawsuit against the university.

The lawsuit by former wrestlers from the 1980s and 1990s describes Strauss as “a prolific sexual predator” who might have assaulted 1,500 or more male students. Athletes who alerted officials about Strauss felt their complaints were futile and that the doctor was above the law in the eyes of the university, according to the lawsuit filed Monday.

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