Vikings running back Dalvin Cook filed a defamation and fraud lawsuit against the former girlfriend and her lawyers who sued him last month claiming he assaulted her and held her hostage in his Dakota County home.
Cook's Hennepin County lawsuit names Gracelyn Trimble, a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army serving in Italy, and her lawyers Daniel Cragg, Anne St. Amant and their firm Eckland & Blando. He is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.
When Trimble filed her lawsuit last month, Cook's lawyers pledged to go on the offensive and now they have. His lawsuit, which includes an affidavit from his grandmother, alleges Trimble was the aggressor and was never injured. He accuses her of defamation, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Cragg called the action "completely frivolous," saying the aim is to muzzle Trimble so Cook can continue to play. "The message here is she shouldn't tell her story and she shouldn't talk," Cragg said.
Since she filed her lawsuit against Cook, Cragg said NFL investigators have sought to interview Trimble in person. But they have yet to meet because the investigators don't want to travel to Italy where she is stationed, Cragg said.
In Cook's lawsuit, he makes extensive allegations against Trimble, claiming that her statements were false and intended to "cause embarrassment and economic harm" to him. He claims that before she filed her lawsuit, she sought money to stay silent.
He also alleges that she entered his home last November with a stolen garage door opener and repeatedly punched him in the face, pulled his dreadlocks and sprayed him and his guests with a chemical irritant.
"Her apparent intent was either to seriously injure him, or to intentionally provoke a violent confrontation so that she could continue her efforts to extort him," the lawsuit said.
