MINNEAPOLIS _ A Twin Cities photographer on Thursday accused Twins third baseman Miguel Sano of grabbing her and trying to kiss her after an autograph session at a local mall in 2015, saying on Twitter that "no, he didn't rape me, but he sure did assault me."
Betsy Bissen, who occasionally photographed Twins games on a freelance basis for the Twins Daily fan website, posted on Twitter her description of the October 2015 incident, which she said left her body "sore all over from having to fight off this athlete that thought he was entitled to take advantage of me against my will."
The post on the incident quickly gained viral attention on social media, the latest instance of the "#MeToo" movement in which women have come forward to disclose unwanted advances and assaults by men.
The Twins, Bissen tweeted, knew nothing of the incident; while she shared the story with close friends and family members, she said, she waited until now to come forward in order "to feel free of this burden I've carried with me since 2015."
Rob Plummer, Sano's agent at the time, did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Sano, who made the American League All-Star team in July but missed nearly all of the season's final six weeks with a stress reaction in his left shin that required surgery in November, has spent much of December at the team's Fort Myers, Fla., training complex. TMZ Sports published a statement it said was from Sano that read, "I unequivocally deny the allegation made against me today _ it never happened. I have the utmost respect for women, especially those working in professional sports, and I deeply sympathize with anyone who has experienced sexual harassment. There is no place for it in our society."
The Twins issued this statement: "Today the Minnesota Twins were made aware of allegations involving Miguel Sano at an offsite appearance during the 2015 season. The Twins, along with Major League Baseball, take these allegations very seriously. Until more information is gathered, the Twins will have no further comment."
The incident, Bissen confirmed, occurred after an autograph-signing appearance by Sano at Fan HQ, a sports memorabilia and apparel shop at Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka, on the next-to-last day of the 2015 regular season. After the event, Sano grabbed Bissen, who had been taking photos of Sano interacting with fans, by the wrist and insisted that she accompany him as he shopped, Bissen wrote. "I didn't want to cause a scene, so I just went along," Bissen said in her post.
After a half-hour, Sano decided to leave with his agent, and went out a back door, Bissen said, then said he needed to use a restroom. When Bissen pointed at the door, she wrote, "the athlete took that as a signal that I wanted him to grab me and try to take me back through that door." Bissen described a struggle with Sano, who was grasping her wrist, as he "leaned down and tried to kiss me, more than once. Every time he did, I said no and kept pulling back. ... When I said no, it should have been the end of it. He should have respected that and stopped. Instead, he hurt me and kept going."
The assault, Bissen wrote, continued for 10 minutes, even when she screamed for help, before Sano finally gave up.
Bissen's post was retweeted more than 1,400 times within three hours of posting, and received hundreds of replies _ including a couple from Twins players. Former Twin Trevor Plouffe, Sano's teammate at the time, tweeted "I'm so sorry about this. I understand why you didn't, but I wish you would have come to me."
And current Twins pitcher Trevor May tweeted, "I'm sorry Betsy."
Bissen's post also described harassment by "the first-base coach (who was) hitting on me almost every game I was at." The Twins' first base coach at the time was Butch Davis, whose contract was not renewed after the 2016 season. Bissen wrote that she could ignore his comments, which "didn't bother me until he tried to ask for my phone number. A married man, around 20 years older than me. I didn't oblige."
