Two UM Football Players Arrested For Sexual Battery On UM Campus
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Two University of Miami Football players were arrested Tuesday, both accused of sexual battery.
Alexander Figueroa, 20, and Jawand Blue, 20, were arrested Tuesday and charged with sexual battery.
According to the arrest affidavit, Figueroa and Blue, without the 17-year old girl's consent, gave her "a narcotic, anesthetic, or other intoxicating substance that mentally or physically incapacitated" on July 5.
Coral Gables police say Figueroa and Blue, took the 17-year-old student back to Figueroa's dorm room at Pearson Hall on the UM campus. That's where police says she was both men performed sex acts on the victim, who was physically helpless to resist.
The teen, according to police, reported the crime to University of Miami Police who contacted the Coral Gables Police Department. Tuesday, Figueroa and Blue went to the Coral Gables Police headquarters and reportedly admitted to "buying and administering several alcoholic beverages for the victim."
The University of Miami Director of Athletics Blake James issued a statement Tuesday which said both Figueroa, a linebacker, and Blue, an outside linebacker, had been kicked off the team.
"Earlier today, I permanently dismissed Jawand Blue and Alexander Figueroa from the UM football team," said James' statement. "The University has also suspended the students from school and barred them from all campus facilities while the University conducts an internal investigation and continues to cooperate with local law enforcement. We hold all of our students – especially student athletes – to the highest standards of moral conduct."
"I think that's right," said UM student Chao Yu of the school's reaction. "They should be responsible for that and that is one of the penalties that they should take."
Several students spoke to CBS4′s MaryAnn Martinez regarding the allegations, and subsequent suspensions.
Click here to watch Lauren Pastrana's report.
"If they did that, then it's the right move to take them off the team, but right now, they are just allegations," said Adam Brien, a student at UM.
Tuesday afternoon, UM's president Donna Shalala released this statement regarding the incident.
"The safety and welfare of our students is fundamental to our mission as a university," said Shalala. "We have zero tolerance for sexual assault and gender-based violence. There is no confusion about our responsibility as a university: We will fully and compassionately support the victim of sexual assault. I have spoken to her myself and reassured her of our full support."
The university said it's conducting its own investigation, which school officials expect to conclude "quickly and fairly."
Kaleigh Kozak, a student at UM, said that the school has plenty of resources for victims of sexual battery.
"They don't have any courses, but they do have resources readily available, pamphlets in all the dormitories and signs with who you can contact," Kozak said.
Figueroa and Blue bonded out of jail Tuesday afternoon.
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