Woman Doubts Friend’s Claim Tyson Perpetrated Assault

A co-worker of the woman who said Mike Tyson sexually abused her is doubtful the encounter actually happened.

Tammie Batty, who has worked with the woman at a Merrillville, Ind., beauty parlor and who drove her to and from the Chicago nightclub where the attack allegedly occurred, commented at a news conference outside the club Wednesday.

“I don’t believe it happened,” Batty said. “You don’t mess with anybody’s reputation like that.”

Tyson has not been charged. Police said they are investigating the woman’s complaint. Tyson, who is on probation for a 1992 rape conviction, has declined comment through a spokesman.

Batty said she drove Tyson’s accuser to The Clique, a popular night spot on the South Side, about 1:30 a.m. Monday. She said the other woman told her on their way back to Indiana several hours later that Tyson had kissed and bitten her face, touched her on an unspecified part of her body and forced her to touch him.

“This person is very light-complected, and there’s no signs of anyone being bit,” Batty said.

Batty said she was not with the other woman at the time of the alleged encounter with Tyson in a private upstairs room at The Clique, but she said she saw Tyson walking around the club - always in the company of security guards.

Two other friends of the woman were more supportive. One, Barbara, 24, who asked that her last name not be used, told the Chicago Sun-Times that a security guard approached her friend and said, “Someone important wants to meet you.”

Barbara and Doreen Beard, 29, of Gary, said their friend was gone for about 15 minutes and was hysterical when she returned to the dance floor.

“She came running down the stairs,” Barbara said. “Her face was all red, and her eyes were watery. There was a big red mark on her cheek, and she told me, ‘Mike was grabbing me all over my body and tried to bite me on the cheek.”’