Former Toronto Raptors coach says he was sexually abused by Indiana doctor

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Former Toronto Raptors head coach Butch Carter has alleged that he was sexually abused while a student athlete at Indiana University by the team doctor.

Carter filed an amended lawsuit Thursday and is the fifth former Indiana basketball player to allege he complained to Bobby Knight about Dr. Bradford Bomba Sr., who the players claim performed unnecessary rectal examinations on young, healthy players, NBC reported.

Carter starred for the Hoosiers and the team’s controversial but iconic coach Knight and went on to play in the NBA before later entering coaching. He joined the Raptors as an assistant in 1997, took over as the team’s third head coach later that season, and led the fledgling franchise to its first success over parts of three seasons, including its playoff debut against the New York Knicks.

Four players have already come forward with allegations against Bomba and Carter joined this month in an amended complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana that accused school officials of failing to protect student-athletes from Bomba, NBC reported.

The athletes are suing Indiana University trustees and men’s basketball trainer Tim Garl, who they allege knew about the sexual abuse complaints but didn’t act, according to the lawsuit, under Title IX, a federal law that requires all colleges and universities that receive federal funds to put safeguards in place to protect students from sexual predators.

The suit alleges that in 1979 on campus, Bomba “put on gloves, lubed his fingers and told Carter to bend over the table” before he inserted at least one of his fingers into Carter’s anus. Carter says no other doctor had ever performed a rectal examination on him as part of a physical examination.

The lawsuit alleges Carter complained to Knight and other university officials “about what Dr. Bomba, Sr. had done to me,” NBC reported.

Carter said in the lawsuit that Young told him it was part of a normal exam.

In the lawsuit, Carter said that when he played in the NBA, he received annual physical examinations from team doctors on a routine basis and that only one, during a training camp, involved a rectal examination because he had a swollen prostate at the time.

Carter said in his affidavit that he complained about Bomba to top officials in the athletic department years before the four other plaintiffs — John Flowers, Haris Mujezinovic, Charlie Miller and Larry Richardson Jr. — were allegedly abused.

“I am proud to come forward and I hope that other IU basketball players will come forward to share their experiences publicly,” Carter said in a statement Thursday.

Bomba, 88, could not immediately be reached for comment by NBC. Knight is deceased.

Mark Bode, a spokesperson for the university, and William Beggs, Bomba’s lawyer, did not immediately reply to requests for comment to NBC. Bode previously referred NBC News to a statement in September that said the university had hired a private law firm to conduct an independent review of a former student-athlete’s allegations that he was subjected to inappropriate prostate and rectal exams during annual physicals with Bomba.