NFL investigating Winston for allegedly groping Uber driver

The NFL is currently investigating Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston over an allegation that he grabbed a female Uber driver's crotch in Arizona in March 2016, league spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.

In a letter obtained by BuzzFeed News' Talal Ansari, NFL's special counsel for investigations Lisa Friel told the Uber driver: "The League has been informed that you may have been the victim of such a violation perpetrated by Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Jameis Winston. The league takes allegations of this nature very seriously and has opened an investigation into this matter."

The driver reportedly alleges she picked up Winston around 2:00 a.m. on March 13, 2016. He was with a group of men who told her who he was before he entered the vehicle. Winston was the only passenger, sitting in the front seat and acting unruly, at one point shouting homophobic slurs at pedestrians, before asking to stop for food. The driver alleges Winston, who she described as "very physically imposing," reached over and grabbed her crotch while waiting in a drive-thru line.

"I wasn't just creeped out," said the driver. "I was frozen ... I mean he's an NFL quarterback and I'm 5-foot-6. I'm not prepared for that. So I completely froze."

The driver says she was fearful to come forward as she did not want to become known as "the woman who Jameis Winston groped," but eventually decided she wanted to tell the truth "about a powerful man who felt entitled to my body when all I wanted to do was my job."

"If I'm silent, I fear that further harm will come to other women, if it hasn't already," she said. "He sexually assaulted me, and I have every right to tell the damn truth about it."

Winston's representatives have denied the allegations, claiming it was someone else using Winston's Uber account, and told BuzzFeed that they had not heard of such a letter from the NFL prior to being contacted.

The Buccaneers released a statement Friday.

Uber says the passenger, whose ride receipt identified him as Winston, has been banned from using the ride-sharing service. Winston was confirmed to be at a charity flag football event in Arizona on March 12.

Winston settled a civil lawsuit earlier this year with a woman who accused him of rape while he was in college in 2012.

Related: Winston puts out defense statement after groping allegation