The Buffalo Payments on Saturday stated they have been releasing punter Matt Araiza from the staff, two days after a civil lawsuit accused him and two different former San Diego State College soccer gamers of gang raping a 17-year-old lady final yr at an off-campus celebration.
Araiza, 22, whose highly effective and exact kicking in school earned him the moniker “Punt God,” was accused of bringing the teenager right into a room in the course of the celebration the place she was repeatedly raped.
The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Courtroom, alleges that the then-high faculty senior went out and in of consciousness however remembers moments as the lads took turns assaulting her.
The Occasions reported on the allegations on Thursday.
In a information convention, Payments Common Supervisor Brandon Beane stated the previous 48 hours because the allegations surfaced have been troublesome for everybody concerned, together with the teenager on the heart of the lawsuit.
“We simply assume it’s the perfect transfer for everybody to maneuver on from Matt,” Beane stated Saturday.
The opposite males named within the civil grievance are Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko. Leonard was listed beforehand on the college’s fall soccer roster as a redshirt freshman, however the college stated Saturday in an announcement that he’s not on the staff. Ewaliko was on the staff final yr as a freshman however isn’t on the present roster.
Araiza and the opposite males haven’t been charged with crimes associated to the allegations. San Diego police haven’t publicly recognized any suspects or launched different primary particulars a couple of prison investigation they performed into the rape allegation, which has been turned over to prosecutors within the county district legal professional’s workplace, who will decide whether or not to file fees.
In keeping with her lawsuit, the younger lady alleging the rape allowed police to document cellphone calls she had with the lads named within the lawsuit who police “had decided have been current within the room when the rape occurred.”
She beforehand advised the Occasions that she in the end needed her alleged rapists to be held accountable for his or her actions.
“I simply actually wish to see some type of accountability,” she stated Thursday after the lawsuit was filed. “I really feel like I’ve handled sufficient of the implications of what occurred that day.”
On Saturday, Araiza’s lawyer, Kerry Armstrong, launched an announcement saying, “Matt could be very disillusioned that his profession with the Payments ended not as a result of he performed poorly, however due to false allegations leveled towards him by a younger girl and her legal professional. I hope he’s again within the NFL quickly. He deserves to be, as he’s the hardest-working 22-year-old I do know.”
In an interview on Thursday with The Occasions, Armstrong stated his investigator spoke to witnesses from the celebration who contradict the allegations towards Araiza.
“It’s a shakedown as a result of he’s now with the Buffalo Payments,” Armstrong stated, including, “There isn’t a doubt in my thoughts” that Araiza didn’t rape the teenager.
Calling the choice by the Payments to chop Araiza “the self-inflicted justice he deserves,” the accuser’s legal professional, Daniel Gilleon, lashed out at Araiza and Armstrong in an announcement Saturday.
Gilleon stated that after he advised Armstrong that the girl was not occupied with being paid by Araiza, Armstrong nonetheless provided an sum of money to settle the difficulty, which the girl rejected.
The shakedown accusation, Gilleon stated, was “totally inhumane and stunningly silly.”
Gilleon additionally stated he had contacted the Payments group to alert them to the allegations towards Araiza however had been rebuffed.
“The Buffalo Payments had no selection however to chop their younger punter after so badly botching their response to our declare: they ignored us, as if what I warned them would occur might be prevented if they simply stored their heads within the sand. That is what enablers do,” Gilleon stated.
Araiza’s title surfaced in reference to the rape allegation in no less than one report made by scholar athletes inside days of the celebration to San Diego State officers by an nameless campus reporting system, in accordance with inner campus information reviewed by The Occasions.
In keeping with the lawsuit, the teenager advised Araiza she was a highschool scholar and, regardless that he may see she was extremely intoxicated, he sexually assaulted her exterior the celebration. Then Araiza took her to a bed room the place Leonard, Ewaliko and no less than one different man have been, the grievance alleged, and threw her down on the mattress face first. The lawsuit stated she was raped for an hour and a half till the celebration was shut down.
The most recent developments come as San Diego State continues to face criticism after a Occasions investigation discovered that the college determined to not alert the campus neighborhood concerning the alleged gang rape and waited greater than 9 months to launch its personal investigation.
Campus officers have stated police requested them to not take any motion that will compromise their investigation and that they weren’t required by federal regulation to ship out a criminal offense notification. After The Occasions’ report, San Diego State officers started posting some details about the October incident on a campus web site.
Campus officers have stated they requested San Diego police to offer info to the teenager about Title IX, the federal regulation that prohibits discrimination on the idea of intercourse at federally funded academic establishments. The college, nevertheless, has not answered repeated questions from The Occasions about why campus police didn’t give that info on to her father.
The younger lady has publicly criticized the town Police Division’s dealing with of her case, which she believed stalled out after the brand new yr, in addition to San Diego State’s inaction. Her father, who spoke to The Occasions on the situation of anonymity, stated that he shared his daughter’s account with campus police three days after the celebration and was by no means offered info that will have helped him lodge a grievance that might have spurred a Title IX investigation.
