Matt Araiza, 2 SDSU football players accused in rape lawsuit - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) Three of the most significant sections, to my eyes, are these: 1. "The teen “stumbled out of the room bloody and crying. Her nose, bellybutton, and ear piercings had been pulled out, and she was also bleeding from her vagina.” As soon as she escaped, she told her friends she had been raped, the lawsuit said. A day later, she went to the city’s police department, where she waited about five hours before an officer spoke with her. She was taken to a hospital and underwent an extensive rape exam. At the request of police, she made pretext calls — recorded by detectives — with the men named in the lawsuit whom police “had determined were present in the room when the rape occurred.” Araiza, the complaint alleged, confirmed on a call in late October that they had sex and recommended she get tested for a sexually transmitted disease. Later in the conversation, she asked him, “And did we have actual sex?” Araiza allegedly changed his tone and replied, “This is Matt Araiza. I don’t remember anything that happened that night.”" 2. "San Diego police detectives guided the young woman during her pretext calls, a Times review of text messages shows. The woman’s attorney, Daniel Gilleon, said police have not provided recordings of those calls or his client’s police report. The results of the rape exam have also not been disclosed, he said." 3. "The teen has publicly criticized the city police department’s handling of her case, which she believed had stalled out after the new year, and San Diego State’s inaction. Her father, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, said that he shared his daughter’s account with campus police three days after the party but was never provided information for the Title IX investigation or complaint process. The university said it asked San Diego police to provide the information to the victim, but has not answered repeated questions from The Times asking why campus police did not give that information directly to the victim’s father."
If the Bills do part ways with him, hopefully Ross doesn't try to have a conversation with the kid like he did Watson. Araiza is a generational punter but man.....no thanks.
TBH the Bills should just cut him. Absolutely eff this dude. Apparently they were alerted to this in early August as well and let him practice and play. On the heels of the Watson thing, either the Bills need to drop him now or the NFL will have to actually do it's job. He's not even, he just has (had) good PR and a viral following. He's a good punter, but the Saints rookie also punting off 80 yarders.
Hes going to get released. The Bills have Super Bowl on their minds and there aint no way the coaching staff and front office is going to let some punter be a distraction because of it. i understand they allow for due process on other players.. but this is a punter.. so he averages 5 yards more than the average punter? Who cares.. release, get rid of the distraction, and sign another. The only guy on that squad that you give any exception to is Josh Allen.
The victim's lawyer seems weird... he's posting all sorts of stuff on Twitter - alleged photos of the victim's journal, messages between him and Matt Araiza, and also the Bills. Apparently Araiza previously offered money to settle this before he was drafted. Is it normal for things to be made this public? His Twitter feed is also tracking another case about sexual assault and a police supervisor.
It’s interesting that the Bills knew this and released Haack anyway. Did they: A. Not care B. Not think it would blow up C. Figure “it’s a punter, they’re a dime a dozen “
The thing some may not understand about the American justice system, everyone has a right to sound representation. That includes the murderers, the rapists, etc. regardless if they're innocent or guilty. That's this guy's job, to defend the accused to the best of his ability. And if that doesn't happen, the case could be later thrown out or retried for ineffective counsel. Watching that video, I see a competent attorney doing his job. With that said, it doesn't convince me of anything other than the attorney is level headed. His client could easily still be guilty.
Like peyton manning would say, its just a stupid kicker. Why even go through all this nonsense over some punter.. just ridiculous. And if he turns out innocent and goes on to have a solid career, then good for him.. its just a punter. Aint no punters making the difference between super bowl or not.
Yea strange. Bills have known about this for weeks before it became public. Seems they are willing to take on the side show negative publicity for a punter. Their front office has killed it for the last 5 years or so. This is probably a misstep though.
I wouldn't go that far. Field position is extremely important, after all. Special Teams is extremely important in general - just ask the 2010 San Diego Chargers. With that said, though, I do agree that Buffalo should part ways for him - no player is worth that headache.
I'm still not sure why the Coffin Corner is no longer strategy in the NFL. In the late '70s and '80s, punters specialized in punting the ball out of bounds inside the 10-yard line to prevent returns. I think about it every time I see somebody rip off a long return from the 3-yard line to get his team out of a fix. It makes no sense to give them a chance, IMO.
They did good by releasing him and not letting it drag another day longer. Im not sure what to make about his case, but i know the punter legal issues is not going to be someone the coach wants to talk about each time He addresses the media. his case reminds me of trevor bauers mess..
I mean, you're not gonna CC a punt from 70-80 yards out. I wonder if the accuracy at distance from the kickers have anything to do with it - coaches may have been more willing to punt from shorter distances in the past type of thing whereas now a kicker can somewhat reliably hit in the 40s-50s. Or they just go for it. Anyway, I guess good job Bills, though there is still some questions about how much they actually knew already. Sucks that it's likely positional value played a role in the quick cut, but yeah - no coach is going to sit around fielding questions about the idiot punter all season.