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7 UTC Football Players Suspended After Gang Rape Allegation

Attorney Summers Says Evidence Indicates Consensual, Was Late Reported

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Seven UTC football players have been suspended indefinitely after an 18-year-old UTC student alleged she was gang raped by the players.

Attorney Jerry Summers said evidence in the case indicates the multiple sex was consensual, and he said the incident that happened early Friday morning in the dorm room of one of the players was not reported until Sunday afternoon.

He said the female student "was in the front row painted up cheering on these alleged rapists at the game at Finley Stadium on Saturday night."

Attorney Summers said some of the players said the woman came on to them and they turned her away.

He said another young man was present who did not have sex with the woman and will be "an independent witness."

The woman said in a report filed with UTC Police that she was driven by two men to the dorm room where she was carried into a bedroom. She said her clothes were removed and she was raped while a group of men watched.

She said she became fearful as the men began taking turns having sex with her. She said she once went to the bathroom, but had to fend off men trying to enter the restroom.

She said when she left the bathroom and tried to get her clothes, she was forced into another area of the student apartment and raped again by others in the group.

She said she began to fight and was hit by one of the men.

Attorney Summers said UTC Police are investigating the incident and the players are cooperating fully.

He said UTC Police have authority to handle the case and turn it over to the district attorney for prosecution if it is felt to be warranted.

Attorney Summers said the incident happened between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. so the players were in violation of the team curfew.

The players are listed as tailback Muhammad Ahmad Abdus-Salaam, Atlanta, Ga.; defensive back Anthony Brodnax, Lithonia, Ga.; tailback Lironnie Davis, Macon, Ga.; linebacker Dejuan Payne, Stone Mountain, Ga.; defensive lineman Cori Stukes, Wilmington, N.C.; defensive back Terrence Thomas, Lithonia, Ga., and linebacker Larry White, Atlanta, Ga.

UTC officials said, "They will not travel with the team to its game at Appalachian State Saturday, and their status for the remainder of the season is unknown."

Several of the players are starters.

Also, Tyrus Ward, a receiver who was a star at Brainerd High School, has left the UTC football team. He was not involved in the alleged gang rape incident.


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