Ex-girlfriend of Vikings RB Dalvin Cook files lawsuit alleging assault, emotional abuse
Dalvin Cook’s ex-girlfriend filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that the Minnesota Vikings running back physically abused her and held her hostage at his home last year, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Gracelyn Trimble, a Sgt. 1st Class in the U.S. Army, spoke with the Star Tribune on Tuesday from Italy and accused Cook of “giving me a concussion, leaving a scar on my face and taking me through hell.”
Trimble is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the lawsuit, which she filed in Dakota County, Minnesota and officially accuses Cook of assault, battery and false imprisonment.
Dalvin Cook allegedly assaulted ex-girlfriend
According to the Star Tribune, Cook and Trimble met in Florida in 2018 and had an “off-and-on sometimes rocky relationship.”
Trimble then flew to Minnesota on Nov. 19 to break up with him officially and get some of her belongings from his home. When she arrived, she entered through the garage and grabbed a can of mace that she stored there before entering.
According to her lawsuit, Cook then got angry when she asked for help finding her things before he “grabbed her arm, and slung her whole body over the couch, slamming her face into the coffee table and causing her lower forehead and the bridge of her nose to bust open.” She tried to spray the mace at Cook, but he overpowered her and the mace hit her instead, per the report.
She later went to shower, and was allegedly assaulted again. She went to his bedroom next, grabbed Cook’s gun and called her friend, per the report. Cook “overheard her and threatened her and beat her with a broomstick.”
Cook allegedly took her to the airport the next morning, and she hid her injuries with a sweatshirt and sunglasses. She told medical personnel in Florida the next week that she suffered the injuries in an ATV accident. She allegedly suffered a concussion, deep cuts and bruising.
The two exchanged messages over Instagram following the alleged assault, according to the Star Tribune's Rochelle Olson. Trimble included pictures that showed her face bruised and cut.
From Cook: I know what I did can't be rewind but I just want you to know I'm sorry I love you so much despite you thinking I don't or never did but I do. Whatever you need I'm here for you! And if you wanna go to the police I'll respect that I'll take my punishment for what I did!
From Trimble: Dalvin my face is so messed up I probably won't even get to see my family for Thanksgiving.
From Cook: And I'm sorry for that! But the situation just got out of hand from the jump. Can you come back to me?
No police report was filed. The two permanently split earlier this year, per the report.
Cook’s attorney, David Valentini, described the altercation very differently to the Star Tribune on Tuesday, and said that Trimble broke into Cook’s home, assaulted him and two houseguests and is now trying to “extort him for millions of dollars.” He claims that Cook was the victim of assault that night and that he was only defending himself after Trimble broke into his home.
"We are confident a full disclosure of the facts will show Mr. Cook did nothing wrong and any injury Sgt. Trimble may have sustained that evening was the result of Sgt. Trimble's own unlawful conduct," Valentini wrote in a statement, via the Star Tribune.
Cook is in his fifth season with the Vikings, and in the first year of a five-year, $63 million deal.
“We recently received notification from Dalvin Cook’s legal representative regarding a situation that occurred between Dalvin and a female acquaintance in November 2020 and led to an ongoing dispute between the parties,” the Vikings said in a statement, via ESPN. “Upon learning of this, we immediately notified the NFL. We are in the process of gathering more information and will withhold further comment at this time.”
