CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Six football players at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have been charged with taking turns raping a drunken student after a party, a university spokesman said Tuesday.
The charges stem from what the woman said was a gang rape on Oct. 21 at the apartment of one of the players.
District Attorney Bill Cox declined to comment. An attorney for the players, Jerry Summers, did not return telephone messages seeking comment about the charges. Summers previously said the sexual activity was consensual.
Last week, the 18-year-old female student told The Associated Press, which does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, that there was no consensual sex.
Police said the woman told investigators she got drunk at a party and became separated from her friends. When the party began to break up about 2:30 a.m., she said, she was taken to the apartment, where seven to 10 men took turns having sex with her. She said she objected and hit them, but they forced themselves on her.
Campus police chief Mac McNeely said the female student's drunkenness was a factor in bringing charges.
The allegations did not come to light until a week later, when coach Rodney Allison suspended those charged.
Chancellor Roger Brown said he initially was told the players were being punished for a curfew violation and he did not find out about the rape report until days later.
Brown described that delay as "administrative error," but said he was satisfied the investigation was handled properly by campus police.
The six charged are Muhammad Ahmad Abdus-Salaam, Lironne Davis, DeJuan Payne, Cori Stukes, Terrence Thomas and Larry White, university spokesman Chuck Cantrell said.