Dan Gilleon, the lawyer of the alleged gang rape victim of Matt Araiza and two others, expressed belief that the Buffalo Bills made the right choice of cutting the so-called “Punt God.” However, he said that the team may have waited too long to make the move.
On Saturday amid the rape accusations thrown at Araiza, the Bills released the rookie punter effective immediately. In a statement, Buffalo GM Brandon Beane admitted “there are many things that we could not get our hands on” with regards to the incident involving Araiza, and that their decision “was about letting Matt go handle his situation.”
After the release, Gilleon emphasized that while the Bills did the right thing, they could have avoided the situation had they listened to his warning. To recall, when the lawyer informed the team of the issue, they reportedly conducted an investigation but didn't go back at him to cooperate.
“The Buffalo Bills had no choice but to cut their young punter after so badly botching their response to our claim: they ignored us, as though what I warned them would happen could be avoided if they just kept their heads in the sand. This is what enablers do,” Gilleon said in a statement, via The Buffalo News.
“My client’s life was forever scarred in October 2021, but she handled herself with grace and dignity. Not once did she express to me a desire to hurt her assaulters out of revenge or hatred. She never asked for a pound of flesh. Her only ask was the kind of justice that might save other young women from the hell she experienced.
Matt Araiza and two other San Diego State football players have been accused of gang raping a 17-year-old girl in an off-campus party in 2021. The 22-year-old athlete has already denied the allegations, while his lawyer has labeled the lawsuit as a “shakedown.”
With the gravity of the issue, though, Araiza really needs to prove his innocence in court, which he vowed to do. For now, it's unlikely any team will want a part of the Punt God until the truth about the case is revealed.
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