A former UC Berkeley basketball player was reportedly beaten while in Poland.
Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, says she was attacked in a music club in Gdansk, a city in northern Poland, according to the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries.
She said she was assaulted by a club security guard inside a women’s bathroom.
Cowling wrote on Instagram the guard followed and “aggressively confronted” her when entering the women’s restroom. He then attacked her “despite repeated assurances from myself and others that I was where I was supposed to be.”
“This was the most extreme instance of hatred I have ever experienced,” Cowling wrote. “I would take this time to talk about how such targeted hatred and violence toward Black LGBTQ women is still present and should not be tolerated in any setting across the world, but this is something we are all very much aware of.”
She was hit several times on the head, and when she fell, she was also kicked.
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According to ESPN, the attacker was arrested Friday. Cowling remains home under evaluation after suffering a fractured orbital bone.
The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match where the Gdynia team defeated rivals from Switzerland, BCF Elfic Fribourg, 77-47.
Cowling scored 7 points in the contest. Cowling said she will continue to play for VBW Arka Gdynia.
