A photographer says rising Twins star Miguel Sano forcefully grabbed her and tried to kiss her after a public appearance in 2015.
Betsy Bissen shared her #MeToo story Thursday in a tweet to “feel free of this burden I’ve carried with me since 2015,” she said. Her post has since been shared thousands of times.
https://twitter.com/BitzyBetsy/status/946407707606740992
In the tweet, Bissen says it happened after an autograph signing Sano was holding at a mall back in 2015. As Sano and his agent were leaving, the then-22-year-old grabbed her wrist to try to pull her through a doorway into an empty hallway, she writes.
He repeatedly tried to kiss her, and though she said no each time, he would pull her in closer, according to her post. She screamed for help, but nobody came.
After about 10 minutes of fighting, Sano stopped and left. She went home with a sore, reddened wrist.
“I don’t even want to think of what he may have done, had he got me thru that door,” she writes. “No, he didn’t rape me, but he sure did assault me. 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.”
Sano, in a statement sent to ESPN, denied it, saying “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,” he added.
A longtime friend of Bissen’s, in response to people doubting her account, tweeted she was told about the incident shortly after it happened.
For anyone doubting her, she told me and other friends/family right after it happened. It was her story to share on her own timetable. Stop before questioning why she waited until now. There have been enough #metoo stories that illustrate why women wait to speak out. https://t.co/nCwWPEh8cT
— TCAnelle (@TCAnelle) December 28, 2017
GoMN asked Bissen if she was open to talking further about her story, to which she replied: “It took everything for me just to share my story on twitter today. I’m definitely not ready to speak to any media.”
The Twins released a brief statement, saying they were just made aware of the allegations and take them seriously, but won’t be commenting until they gather more details.
#MNTwins statement on Miguel Sano: pic.twitter.com/ybQfQ4mcpm
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) December 28, 2017
Bissen says the Twins at the time “knew nothing about what happened.”
Current Twins pitcher Trevor May tweeted simply, “I’m sorry Betsy.”
Allegations against the first base coach
Bissen in her post also says the Twins’ first base coach that year also routinely hit on her while she was at games.
“I could ignore this,” she writes, though when he – as an older, married man – asked for her phone number, that bothered her.
The Twins didn’t comment on those allegations, and in a follow-up tweet Bissen says her #MeToo story wasn’t meant to be about him.
https://twitter.com/BitzyBetsy/status/946468707781529603
