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WARNING: The following story includes details that may be difficult for some to read.
SAN DIEGO – On Friday, the law firm representing the woman who was allegedly raped by several former San Diego State University football players released the police report filed by the woman, as well as details and information regarding a new lawsuit filed against the City of San Diego.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday by Briggs Law Corporation, attorneys for Gilleon Law Firm- the plaintiff in this case -requested files and compensation from the City of San Diego and the San Diego Police Department, who lawyers claim have ignored their information requests that fall under the California Public Records Act.
The law agency alleges the government agencies failed to comply “promptly, accurately, properly, and in full with all open-government laws applicable,” in regard to the CPRA requests, which include witness statements, results of search warrants, and any related files pertaining to the assault.
The report was filed on Oct. 18, 2021, and names one person who told police that she was intoxicated and “incapable of giving consent” for sexual intercourse which allegedly occurred on Oct. 16, 2021. The accuser, who was just 17 years old at the time of the alleged incident, told officers with the San Diego Police Department that eight male suspects forced her into intercourse against her will at a home in San Diego’s College Area neighborhood.
Following the alleged assault, the 17-year-old went herself to the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital to have a Sexual Assault Response Team exam in which DNA and forensic evidence were collected.
Officers then spoke with the accuser who detailed the events of the night as she remembered them and the alleged assault involving multiple men who played for SDSU’s football team.
“I don’t remember the specifics of what was stated. I just know that he led me into the house and brought me into a room. When we got inside of the bedroom, I recall seeing about eight men standing around,” the woman told police according to the report. She went on to describe a graphic scene in which several men assaulted her at the same time, including both vaginally and orally.
“All I can remember after that is being in a lot of pain,” the girl told officers. “I was bleeding profusely vaginally and orally.”
A previously filed civil lawsuit in August named former Buffalo Bills player Matt Araiza, as well as teammates Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko, as three men involved in the alleged assault. According to the police report released, at the time of the assault, the accuser told officers she believed she could identify the men involved if she saw them.
The 17-year-old also told an officer that while the alleged assaults were occurring, she noticed “one of the other males recording everything on his phone.” She also said at the time that she believed the group of men had taken her phone during the incident and held onto it. After her friend helped to remove her from the scene of the alleged assault, the accuser said she ultimately used the Find My Phone app to ping her cell phone’s location as the home where she says the assault occurred.
A witness statement taken by the accuser’s friend recounts the night’s events, including a brief period of time in which she was unable to locate her friend, and an incident in which a resident of the home told her that she could not go inside to try and find her friend.
“From 11:30-12:30, I couldn’t locate her. I walked up to one of the residents of the house who everyone told me was a football player by the name of (REDACTED),” the witness told police. “I asked him if he had seen my friend (REDACTED). He stated no, and when I told him that I wanted to check for her inside of the house, he aggressively stated that she was not inside and he asked me to leave.”
The friend told police that she argued with the football player for several minutes before she eventually walked past him into the home and found her friend looking distraught and confused,” wearing a costume that was “covered in blood.”
The accuser “sustained severe black and blue bruising to her neck and throat region as well as a half inch laceration to her upper left forehead region,” the police report from the night of the alleged incident states. She also “had bruising on her various parts of her right leg” and “complained of vaginal pain and bleeding from the incident.”
Following the news of the civil lawsuit filed by the accuser, the Buffalo Bills waived Araiza from the team and released the following statement to the media:
“We were recently made aware of a civil complaint involving Matt from October 2021. Due to the serious nature of the complaint, we conducted a thorough examination of this matter. As this is an ongoing civil case, we will have no other comment at this point.”
The matter remains under investigation by the San Diego Police Department and San Diego State University.
The civil lawsuit filed in August remains in the hands of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. It is unclear if criminal charges will be filed against the men named at this time.
Editor’s note: The video in the player at the top of this article is from a previously published version of this story.
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