Matt Araiza MISSES Buffalo Bills game after being accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old

Matt Araiza, the Buffalo Bills rookie accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old while he was at San Diego State, will miss his team’s preseason game against Carolina on Friday night.

Araiza was named this week in a civil suit alongside two other players. The incident reportedly occurred at an off-campus party in 2021 with the victim being a minor who claims she went into and out of consciousness during the events.

He now misses Friday’s game against Carolina. He has been pictured arriving at the stadium but is not expected to play any active role in the team on Friday night.

Araiza’s lawyer, Kerry Armstrong, denied his client’s involvement in the incident saying: ‘It’s a shakedown because he’s now with the Buffalo Bills. There is no doubt in my mind that Matt Araiza ever raped that girl.’

Sportsmail has approached The Bills for comment, while Araiza said in a statement: ‘The facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press. I look forward to quickly setting the record straight.’

After the game, Bills coach Sean McDermott said he made the call to sit Araiza and added: ‘It’s not a situation that I or we take lightly. It’s clear we have work to do to continue to figure this thing out here.

‘This is a game, but there are other things that are more important than this.’

Araiza was pictured arriving with the team on Friday but he did not play in the game

McDermott said he didn’t know Ariaza was going to put out a statement on Friday. He added that Ariaza would travel back with the team but would not be drawn on his involvement in any capacity beyond that. 

It was reported earlier on Friday that Araiza told his 17-year-old accuser in a police-monitored phone call that she needed to be tested for chlamydia after an alleged hour-and-a-half-long attack that left her ‘bloody and crying,’ according to a lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com. 

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, accuses Araiza, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin ‘Pa’a’ Ewaliko of gang raping a then-17-year-old girl at a Halloween party at a home where Araiza had been living.

The plaintiff, now 18, is identified in the complaint as ‘Jane Doe’ because she was underage at the time. 

There is a criminal investigation into the allegations, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the lawsuit. No arrests have been made and San Diego Police have not publicly identified any suspects. 

Araiza would not be subject to the NFL personal conduct policy over the alleged rape because it took place in 2021, before he was a league player. 

The lawsuit states that the teen had been drinking with friends when they decided to go to the party on October 17 and she was ‘observably intoxicated upon arrival.’ She became separated from her friends and was approached by Araiza who offered her a drink, according to the lawsuit. She believes the drink ‘not only contained alcohol, but other intoxicating substances,’ the complaint said. 

She told Araiza, who was 21 at the time, that she was a high school senior, according to the lawsuit. She alleges he then led her to a side yard where he asked her to perform oral sex and then had sex with her before taking her to a bedroom in the home. There were at least three other men in the room, including Leonard and Ewaliko, according to the complaint. The lawsuit states that Araiza threw the teen onto the bed and she went in and out of consciousness while she was being raped. It added, ‘but she does remember some moments from the horrific gang rape.’

After an hour-and-a-half, the teen ‘stumbled out of the room bloody and crying,’ according to the complaint. Her nose, belly button, and ear piercings had been pulled out.

Buffalo Bills punter Araiza told his 17-year-old rape accuser in a police-monitored phone call that she needed to be tested for chlamydia after an alleged hour-and-a-half-long attack that left her ‘bloody and crying,’ according to a court filing obtained by DailyMail.com

The 22-year-old Araiza, who attended San Diego’s Rancho Bernardo High, was SDSU’s most recognizable player during a school-record 12-2 season that netted a No. 25 ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll. He routinely flipped the field with his jaw-dropping punts and set an NCAA record with a 51.19-yard average. He won the Ray Guy Award and was a first-team AP All-American

She immediately told her friends about the rape and the next day reported it to police and underwent a rape exam, according to the lawsuit. Officers coached her on calling Araiza, which she did 10 days later as detectives recorded it, according to the complaint.

During the call, Araiza acknowledged having sex with her, the lawsuit states, but later, when she asked him ‘And did we have actual sex?’ he responded ‘This is Matt Araiza. I don’t remember anything that happened that night’ and hung up.

But before getting off the phone, Araiza did tell Doe to get tested for chlamydia. 

‘Araiza told Doe that he had tested positive for chlamydia, at which time Doe was instructed to say, ”So you know what to get tested for Ok, that makes me feel a bit better.”’

Attorney Armstrong, who represents Araiza in the criminal investigation, called the allegations untrue based on the findings of an investigator he hired.

‘I 100% do not believe that he ever forcibly raped this girl or had sex with her while she was passed out or drunk or anything like that,’ Armstrong told the AP. ‘It’s unfortunate that she’s filed a civil suit. I think it’s a cash grab.’

Armstrong said the Bills were aware of the allegations and investigation of Araiza before the lawsuit was filed because he provided the team updates since he was retained by the punter about six weeks ago.

‘Matt Araiza’s very upset about this, as you can imagine. He’s very disappointed,’ Armstrong said. ‘But he’s going to get his day in court eventually.’

Araiza waves to fans after a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Orchard Park, New York on August 13

Armstrong also appeared on CBS 8 San Diego echoing these claims. 

The accuser’s representative, Dan Gilleon, responded with a lengthy statement on Twitter on Friday night, saying: ‘On August, 25, 2022, I filed a complaint on behalf of Jane Doe against former and current San Diego State University football players, including Matt Araiza, a well-known “Punt God” recently drafted to the Buffalo Bills.

‘Matt Araiza’s attorney went on live TV last night to etch two words in the public’s psyche about this case: “money grab.” He did so because he is defending a professional athlete. He knows the public is programmed to think that professional athletes are targeted for their money.

I represent a girl who was gang-raped and is now being labeled a “money-grabbing” liar in public statements designed to reach the millions of people interested in this case. If you think the professional thing to do is to turn the other cheek, then you and I will have to agree to disagree on what we think professional means. I think an attorney’s job is to advocate for their client. 

‘I’m not going to let this attorney try to sway public opinion against my client-especially with frivolous insults-without fighting fire with fire.

‘You can be assured that this is not my first rodeo and that everything I say publicly is designed for one purpose: to advocate for my client and protect her from ridiculous insults. I specialize in cases where powerful men prey on vulnerable women. 

‘I vet my cases carefully. When I decide to take a case, I will have ample evidence that my client’s allegations are 100% true. That means when I communicate with the defendant, who I believe is a sexual predator, I don’t hold punches.

Use of social media in litigation is nothing new. Court TV became a real thing during the OJ Simpson trial in the early 1990s. The people who criticize attorneys for making public statements are the same people also participating in and perpetuating that same public dialogue. 

‘It’s easy to bash lawyers, and frankly I think there is ample reason to do so. But, unless and until you become a lawyer and practice in the real world, you really don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to how this sort of thing should be handled. 

‘You might think that everything should stay behind closed doors, out of the public’s view. But, in America, courts are designed as public spectacles, teaching society the difference between right and wrong.

‘The idea is that when a society cares to take notice of what the law means, it has a chance to progress. Without a doubt, sexual harassment of women is a plague on our society. If you want the cases to stay hidden, out of the public realm, dismissed as a “money-grabbing shakedown” then you want women to keep facing the kind of horrific crimes my client suffered.’