Tyson Sued Again

March 10, 1998 / 10:30 PM EST / AP

Two women suing Mike Tyson for $22.5 million were traumatized when he verbally and physically abused them at a restaurant after his sexual advance was rejected, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Tyson's attorney disputed the accusations and said he expected to file a countersuit.

The women claim in their lawsuit that the former heavyweight champ grabbed one of them, cursed at the other one and overturned a table before hot coffee was thrown on him to "impede his attack" at a Washington bistro on March 1.

Tyson, who served three years in prison for rape, became even more enraged when he found out one of the women is a corrections officer, the lawsuit says.

Tyson adviser Jeff Wald called the claims "absurd."

"We think it was a total setup for money," said Wald, who had not seen a copy of the suit. "This guy's like a target for every greedy person out there."

Tyson's lawyer, John Branca, told Baltimore's WMAR-TV that the boxer is innocent and witnesses can back him up.

"We're going to be very, very aggressive in pursuing this lawsuit, and a countersuit can be expected," he said. "We're not going to allow Mike to become a target for every woman who wants to extort money from him."

The women, Sherry Cole and Chevelle Butts, appeared at a news conference Tuesday in Baltimore with their lawyer one day after filing the suit in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The women, both 30, did not speak to reporters because they were still "very much traumatized," lawyer A. Dwight Pettit said.

The women are seeking damages for assault, battery, defamation and emotional distress, and they also want to restore their reputation, Pettit said.

"These women were put through a horrendous ordeal, cursed, verbally abused in a situation in front of a fully packed restaurant," he said.

Tyson became abusive while he and the women were having breakfast, the suit says.

Tyson grabbed Cole after his sexual advances toward her were spurned and "said something like: `Are you going to be my next victim?"' Pettit said.

The boxer is accused of overturning a table and cursing Butts, who threw coffee on him. He became even angrier when he learned Butts is a corrections officer, Pettit said. Tyson also threw bread at a customer who took a picture of him, the lawyer said.

The women were invited to the breakfast by comic Michael Colyar, whom they met that night at a Washington bar, Pettit said. Colyar was asked by his bodyguard, who apparently was acquainted with one of Tyson's bodyguards, if he wanted to have breakfast with Tyson. The comic then invited the women along.

Asked why the women didn't press charges, Pettit said: "They were very much concerned that they were not the cause of him having any other criminal difficulties, regardless of what happened to them."

He said many people, including himself, were Tyson fans and the women "didn't want to be part of anything that would cause him that type of entanglement with the system."

The suit is not the first against Tyson. In 1988, Sandra Miller of New York filed a suit claiming that Tyson grabbed and propositioned her at a nightclub. A jury awarded her $100.

And in 1990, Phyllis Polaner, former aid to ex-wife Robin Givens, filed a suit claiming Tyson sexually assaulted and harassed her. That suit is still pending.