Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton is being
sued for sexually assaulting a woman, who claims he forced himself on her in
his hotel room ... this according to a new lawsuit.
In legal docs, obtained by TMZ Sports,
Kelli Tennant claims -- while Walton was an assistant coach
for the Golden State Warriors -- he asked her to come meet him at his Santa
Monica hotel to drop off a book she had published. Walton worked for the
Warriors until April 2016, when he left to become the head coach of the Lakers.
She says the 2 had a business relationship that went back several years and
that's why she had asked him to write a foreword in her book.
In the suit, Tennant says when she arrived at
Walton's hotel, he convinced her to come up to his room so they could
"catch up." She claims when they got up to his room, Walton suddenly
pinned her to the bed, placing his hips and legs over her body.
In the docs, Tennant claims Walton then began
forcing kisses on her neck, face and chest. She claims she screamed for him to
stop and tried to free herself, but he held her down, groped her breasts and
groin, and rubbed his erection on her leg.
She says he eventually relented and let her get
up from the bed, but as she was walking towards the door to leave he grabbed
her from behind and again forced his body up against hers.
Tennant claims when Walton finally released his
grasp, she opened the door and left, but could hear him say, "Good to see
you."
Tennant claims she did not initially report
Walton's conduct but was forced to continually interact with him because of her
job. She says each time she saw him, Walton would impose himself on her with a
big hug or a kiss, even though she thought she made it clear his advances were
unwanted.
In the suit, Tennant claims in May 2017 -- while
Walton was the head coach of the Lakers -- Walton greeted her by
uttering, "vulgar, guttural sounds at her" and said, "mmmm ...
you're killing me in that dress." She says he then forced an aggressive
hug on her and rubbed his body against hers.
It's unclear, based on the docs, what finally
prompted Tennant to come forward with her allegations.
Luke recently left his
position as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and is now
coaching the Sacramento Kings.
We got Luke and his wife out in Los Angeles over
the weekend, but he didn't want to talk to our guy ... and it's unclear if he
knew about the lawsuit.
We reached out to Walton's reps for comment ...
so far, no word back.
Source: TMZ
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