The Buffalo Bills released rookie punter Matt Araiza on Saturday after he and two other former San Diego State University football teammates were accused Thursday of raping a 17-year-old in October.
The allegations come from a civil lawsuit filed Thursday that names Araiza, 22, and two other former SDSU players.
Araiza didn’t play in the team’s Friday preseason game against the Carolina Panthers before his release Saturday.
The Bills said they found out about the allegations against Araiza on July 31 when the plaintiff’s attorney contacted the team about the coming litigation.
Araiza participated in the Bills’ training camp up until his release, and had even been named the starting punter last week.
The lawsuit stems from an incident at an off-campus party on Oct. 16, when the plaintiff was 17.
In the lawsuit, she accuses Araiza of giving her a drink that contained “not only alcohol, but other intoxicating substances.”
She said she and Araiza had sex after she told him she was in high school and then was taken to a room where Araiza’s teammates and co-defendants — Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko — raped her.
Araiza’s attorney told the Times that the lawsuit is “a shakedown because he’s now with the Buffalo Bills,” and that his own investigator spoke to witnesses at the party who contradict the allegations.
Araiza was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL draft in April. He won the Ray Guy award last year, which honors the best collegiate punter in the nation.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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