Jury in Chiropractor Trial Hears From Two Former Patients

Testimony in the trial of a McKinney chiropractor accused of assaulting several female patients, including three children, continued Wednesday, as the jury heard from two former patients.

Dr. David Russell is accused of sexually assaulting five patients, two adults and three children that he treated in his Collin County practice.

One teenage patient told the jury that Russell had told her he could heal her injury for her to return to dance in time for a competition if he performed his treatments internally.

Russell faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child, though has denied any sort of penetration occurred in his practice.

Nancy McNeil, a retired Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, formerly with Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, testified that she had performed a genital examination of one of the patients.

McNeil testified the patient had complained of “hands to genital touching” by the defendant, specifically “digital penetration.”

The mother of another patient said her daughter felt uncomfortable after one visit with Russell in 2011.

The teen was being treated for a groin injury, but the mother testified her daughter had been treated by Russell at least a dozen other times for other injuries.

The mother testified her daughter had a different demeanor after the one visit in question, telling the jury her daughter had later asked, “Mom, is Dr. Russell allowed to touch me? Is he allowed to touch me down there?,” as she gestured to her groin.

The mother added that her family continued seeing Russell for both the teen and the family’s other child after the alleged incident took place.

When on the stand, the teen told the jury the groin treatment made her nervous and uncomfortable, adding that the chiropractor touched her inside her shorts but over her underwear, skimming her private parts.

“I don’t have a problem with him, to tell you the truth”, the teen told the prosecution, when asked about Russell. “We all make mistakes.”

She testified that Russell did not ever put a finger inside her vagina, calling that accusation a misunderstanding, relayed to investigators by another former patient.

Russell has denied any kind of intentional sexual touching happened in his practice.

Russell had been licensed in Texas for the past 16 years before his license was suspended in Nov. 2011.