The former Indiana University basketball team doctor accused of sexually assaulting players back in the 1990s invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination dozens of times during a recent deposition when he was asked whether he performed rectal examinations on young athletes, according to the transcript of his testimony.
Dr. Bradford Bomba Sr., who testified on Dec. 4 via video, also twice invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked if then-coach Bob Knight told him to do “digital rectal exams on his players.” However, he did answer several questions about his general scope of duties and time working for the university.
Bomba, 88, had been ordered to submit to a deposition by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mario Garcia, who is presiding over a federal lawsuit filed in October by two former players, Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller, against the university’s trustees. Neither Knight, who died last year at age 83, nor Bomba are listed as defendants.
They claim Bomba repeatedly sexually assaulted them and their teammates under the guise of doing physical examinations and that the school was aware this was happening but did nothing to stop him.
Bomba first invoked the Fifth Amendment when he declined, through his lawyer, to answer whether he ever performed a physical exam on a player “anywhere other than on campus.”
The now-retired doctor also declined to answer a question about whether he ever reported the “abuse of a student athlete to anyone,” and another question asking if he knew what Title IX is.
Mujezinovic and Miller are suing the IU trustees under Title IX, a federal law that requires all universities that receive federal funds to put safeguards in place to protect students from sexual predators.
Bomba did testify at the deposition that IU provided him with a questionnaire that needed to be completed and that he documented the procedures he did on those forms, which were then returned to the university. He also agreed, under questioning, that he and Knight had been “close friends.”
Kathleen Delaney, who represents Mujezinovic and Miller, said in the lawsuit that there could be “at least one hundred” alleged victims. She had no immediate comment Friday on the deposition, which Bomba’s guardians had unsuccessfully attempted to delay by claiming he was not competent to testify.
“I’m pleased that the Court required Dr. Bomba, Sr. to testify,” Mujezinovic, who watched the deposition by video, said in a statement first reported by The Herald Times. “He did not even try to justify what he did to me and others under the guise of ‘medical care.’ Watching him testify was a difficult experience for me, but an important step in the pursuit of justice.”
“This is important evidence confirming that the University knew what was going on and did nothing to protect us from what I now understand was sexual abuse,” Miller said in his statement. He too watched the deposition by video.
Indiana University is represented by the Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg law firm and three of the firm’s lawyers were monitoring the deposition but, according to the transcript obtained by NBC News, did not pose any questions.
Also watching the deposition was IU’s “in-house counsel” Anthony Prather, the transcript showed.
Indiana University hired Bomba to provide medical care to all of its sports teams from 1962 to 1970, and from 1979 until the late 1990s he was the basketball team’s doctor, according to the lawsuit.
Mujezinovic and Miller said in the lawsuit that they “were routinely and repeatedly subjected to medically unnecessary, invasive, and abusive digital rectal examinations” by Bomba.
Bomba had played football for Indiana University and was nicknamed “Frankenstein” by coaches and players “due to the large size of his hands and fingers,” the lawsuit added.
“Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s routine sexual assaults were openly discussed by the Hoosier men’s basketball players in the locker room in the presence of IU employees, including assistant coaches, athletic trainers, and other Hoosier men’s basketball staff,” according to the lawsuit.
Mujezinovic, who spent two seasons at Indiana from 1995 to 1997, and Miller, who played for the Hoosiers from 1994 through 1998, are seeking unspecified damages. They have also urged former teammates to come forward and join their lawsuit.
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