North Las Vegas physical therapist accused of lewdness faces third lawsuit
A third lawsuit was filed Wednesday against a North Las Vegas physical therapist already facing criminal lewdness charges in connection with allegations of inappropriately touching clients.
Brady Powell, 42, a physical therapist at Premier Physical Therapy and Sports Performance was arrested in early February on seven misdemeanor counts of open or gross lewdness.
Powell is accused of touching female clients inappropriately during physical therapy appointments, rubbing his crotch on the victims during their appointments, according to police records and civil court filings.
About two weeks after his arrest, a woman sued Powell and Premier Physical Therapy and Sports Performance alleging Powell touched her inappropriately four different times and exposed his genitals to her on one occasion.
A second woman sued Powell and the physical therapy clinic in April, alleging Powell touched her inappropriately during sessions in August.
The third suit, filed Wednesday against Powell and the clinic that listed him as a managing partner, alleged that he touched another woman inappropriately during a November physical therapy session.
The latest complaint, filed by Robert Eglet, Tracy Eglet and Danielle Miller, accuses the physical therapy clinic of negligence, stating the clinic violated its “duty to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition for the public” by failing to “stop guests from being victims of open and gross lewdness.” The suit also alleges negligence against the clinic in hiring, retaining and supervising Powell while the alleged lewdness was happening.
The lawsuit also accuses Powell of negligently inflicting emotional distress on the victim through his alleged inappropriate touching.
The complaint said the victim still suffers from post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and has trouble sleeping because of nightmares about the alleged non-consensual touching from Powell.
“It should be incomprehensible that a medical professional, like Mr. Powell, would breach the trust of his patients when they are in pain, and seeking healing,” Tracy Eglet said in a statement.
Eglet, whose firm Eglet Adams also filed the first lawsuit against Powell, commended her clients for coming forward about their alleged abuse, and said abusive behavior has been “allowed to go on mostly unchecked, for decades.”
She said she hopes the lawsuit would help deter abusive behavior in the future, and “send a clear message to sexual predators, in a fiduciary relationship with their victim, that they will face legal consequences for their abuse.”
Powell is due back in court June 26 on the criminal charges. An attorney for Powell in the criminal case could not immediately be reached for comment.
Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCredicoII.
