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Pittsburgh Steeler Ben Roethlisberger now has as many sexual assault accusations as he does Super Bowl rings. A 20-year-old student accused Roethlisberger of assaulting her in a college bar.
Now, the media are debating whether his 'mature-football-player' image is at risk.
We're looking at CBS, ESPN, CNN, NBC and KDKA.
A prosecutor on CBS's The Early Show emphasizes that charges have not been filed, but Roethlisberger's judgment is being questioned after his latest lapse.
"At a minimum it just shows he's exercising poor judgment, especially Ben Roethlisberger -- he's rich, famous, single, the cornerstone of a franchise that we all know about. But he's got to make better choices. It can be done."
Roethlisberger hired powerful defense attorney, Ed Garland. Garland is best known for representing Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis in his murder trial in 2000.
"Roethlisberger has done one thing right here, he has hired exactly the right lawyer to help him in a very difficult predicament." (ESPN)
A Philadelphia Inquirer columnist on CNN says he still has the support of his team.
"The team is gonna swear by him because that's the code. First of all, you're innocent until proven guilty in the United States of America, secondly in the NFL, as in any professional sports league, you stand by your teammates because you consider that a family and unless you have hard-core evidence to prove otherwise, you are going to stand by your family member particularly when they're the star quarterback of the team that helps you make money because he facilitates your success."
The face of the Steelers may have to worry about more than just the accusations in Nevada and Georgia. NBC's Mike Florio says the NFL commissioner could step in.
"This thing could go in a bunch of different directions. The NFL could come in and suspend Ben Roethlisberger before the case is concluded. We saw that three years ago with Mike Vick; when he was indicted for dog fighting, he was suspended indefinitely."
And then there's Pittsburgh, where people are divided over whether they support their quarterback. KDKA, the Pittsburgh CBS affiliate gets reactions from locals.
"Caller 1: … I just hope the media doesn't fluff it, cause I really do, I think the guy has a problem.
Radio Host: if he's not charged with anything where do you go with this? So he's not charged, that's the end of it.
Person: When you've got you know, a quarterback as big as that, and he's that famous, yeah there's definitely a chance she's being opportunistic.
Person 2: I'm giving Big Ben the benefit of the doubt on this."
Writer: Erika Roberts
Producer: Newsy Staff
