A teenager who died in that crash was also accused of assaulting the girl.
Demarco Whitley testified at the Cook County Courthouse in Rolling Meadows that his encounter with the 15-year-old girl was consensual and not a sexual assault.
The trial began with testimony from the alleged victim. She testified that she was sexually assaulted by Whitley and Pierre Washington-Steel. Steel was killed in that fatal accident, but Wednesday, Whitley took the stand in his own defense.
Whitley is now a 19-year-old college student. In 2010 he and fellow Glenbard West High School football player Steel allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl.
In testimony Wednesday, Whitley said the girl was a friend of Steel's who agreed to have oral sex in a phone call. After they picked up the girl, they parked in a lot. Whitley testified he moved to the back seat: "I said are you ready. And she said yeah."
Whitley testified that the girl performed oral sex on Steel, made a phone call, and then performed oral sex on Whitley.
Once in police custody, Whitley testified that police would not believe his story and that a female assistant state's attorney also would not believe his story
"I told her yes I had sex with her, but she said no," said Whitley. "She said I'm a woman. No woman would do that."
Whitley testified that the assistant state's attorney then told him to sign a false statement and he could go home.
Prosecutors contend that the girl was held by the neck by Steel and was forced to have sex.
Under cross-examination by a prosecutor, Whitley acknowledged that he signed a statement acknowledging his part in a sexual assault, but he added that he was not allowed to change that statement and that he only signed that statement because he was promised he was allowed to go home.
