Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston and the Tallahassee, Fla., Police Department likely will face a civil lawsuit, the attorney for the complainant in Winston's sexual-assault case told ABC News on Wednesday.
Patricia Carroll said she "absolutely" plans to file a civil lawsuit and that "I want heads to roll."
Carroll said Tallahassee police were negligent in handling her client's case and claims the way police handled the allegations led to a prosecutor's decision to drop the case.
"Absolutely you're going to see a civil suit," Carroll told ABC. "You cannot have law enforcement that is not held accountable."
Carroll said the family also might file a civil action against the university.
ABC said the Tallahassee Police Department and representatives for Winston did not immediately return a request for comment.
State Attorney Willie Meggs announced Dec. 5 in Tallahassee that Winston would face no charges in the sexual-assault case, which emanated from an incident on Dec. 7, 2012. "No charges will be filed against anyone in this case," Meggs said during a news conference.
Meggs said prosecutors must "have a reasonable likelihood of a conviction" when they file charges and he said they didn't have it in this instance.
Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen, had said that sex between his client and the complainant was consensual.
Eight days after Meggs' decision, Carroll held a news conference and blasted the Tallahassee Police Department's investigation, calling it "an investigation of a rape victim, not an investigation of a rape subject."
Carroll also said she thought the direction of the investigation was "related to the fact that this gentleman was on the football team" and that despite Meggs' decision not to charge Winston, "My client is alleging still that he raped her."
Carroll was asked during the news conference about a potential civil case and said that was not being discussed at that time.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
