McDermott/Beane press conference 8/27: Matt Araiza released

[Motorin']

46 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

It's an allegation at this point.  One that wasn't even followed-up by the SDPD.  If Araiza wasn't involved with it, what information did you want him to provide?

 

No, the SDPD concluded their nine month investigation on Aug 5th and turned all of their evidence over to the DA to determine what if any charged will be filed. 

 

The investigation includes TB's of data from search warrants they executed, recorded pretext calls with Araiza and who knows what else. 

 

Matt failing to tell the NFL, his agent and the Bills that he was under investigation by the police for allegations of rape during the draft process is the only reason the Bills organization is in the difficult situation they are in. 

[Beck Water]

6 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Agreed.  Maybe they were and maybe they were not.  The victim probably doesn’t know whether they were.  The SDPD is not going to share any of this with a football team.

 

August 5 LA times article, police spokesman states the case they forwarded to the DA includes 3 terabytes of digital evidence.  That's a lot of terabytes if there aren't videos/photos.

 

28 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Section C3 stole my kittens is evidence?

 

Section C3 states under oath that he had kittens, and he remembers seeing 4merper4mer putting them in a basket and walking away with them, is, in fact, evidence.  I believe it's called "eyewitness testimony" FWIW.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Beck Water

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

Very disappointed in Sal M. and Jay Skurski this morning.

 

 

[Beck Water]

16 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

There's no hard evidence of that. Just conjecture. Also no evidence of what was known.

 

Dude, AP has its detractors, but they do require that anything they publish be backed up by two independent primary sources.

 

Which goes quite  a bit beyond "conjecture" to most of us, even if the sources are anonymous and thus not "hard evidence".  The statement was these teams weren't interested in drafting a punter and that they didn't have details, but just uncovering such a report would be cause for a team that IS interested in drafting a punter to dig deeper and press harder.

[SectionC3]

18 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

There's no hard evidence of that. Just conjecture. Also no evidence of what was known.

Take it up with Wawrow and the AP.  Challenge his reporting. (Is that "soft" evidence?)

[loyal2dagame]

17 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Two other teams figured out there was a problem with this guy.  If they didn't get it through psychic intervention, then we have work to do. 

Did teams other than the Pats* know Aaron Hernandez was a homosexual sociopathic gang member? Because New England acted like they didn't know. 

 

All teams have problems vetting players.

[78thealltimegreat]

55 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

OK. That's one person, and your opinion.

And also yours that the media isn’t hated but we will agree to disagree 

[Beck Water]

2 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Very disappointed in Sal M. and Jay Skurski this morning.

 

 

 

Why?  What did Sal M and Skurski tweet/say/publish?

 

Spill the Tea!

[Motorin']

8 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

August 5 LA times article, police spokesman states the case they forwarded to the DA includes 3 terabytes of digital evidence.  That's a lot of terabytes if there aren't videos/photos.

 

 

Section C3 states under oath that he had kittens, and he remembers seeing 4merper4mer putting them in a basket and walking away with them, is, in fact, evidence.  I believe it's called "eyewitness testimony" FWIW.

 

That's a lot of terebytes if they are video and photos. Like a years worth of work of a professional videographer. 

[UKBillFan]

21 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Two other teams figured out there was a problem with this guy.  If they didn't get it through psychic intervention, then we have work to do. 

 

Araiza went into the draft with doubts about his holding and hang time. On most mock drafts he was the third or fourth punter to be picked, and he went third. There is nothing to indicate whether the two who chose before us had a clue about any of the allegations or not.

[Doc]

50 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

I don't understand your point.  The prior poster indicated that there is no evidence that Araiza participated in the alleged second encounter.  I pointed out that there is such evidence, in the form of a statement of the alleged victim.  I'm not sure where you're coming from here.  

 

36 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

Sorry, but you're wrong.  The statement is evidence.  She said it happened.  Standing alone, it's sufficient to indict and to convict.  

Or they employ arguably the best punter in the NFL and had no reason to waste time vetting Araiza.

 

Say what?  An allegation isn't evidence of anything.  Much less enough to charge and convict.  Just on the face of it, her saying she was 90% unconscious during it makes anything she way unreliable. 

[Beck Water]

Just now, UKBillFan said:

 

Araiza went into the draft with doubts about his holding and hang time. On most mock drafts he was the third or fourth punter to be picked, and he went third. There is nothing to indicate whether the two who chose before us had a clue about any of the allegations or not.

 

I don't think @SectionC3 was referencing the two teams that picked punters before Araiza.  I think he was referencing the AP report that two teams (who did not draft punters) learned there were allegations of some sort around SDSU football players and possibly involving Araiza.

[LyndonvilleBill]

1 minute ago, Motorin' said:

 

That's a lot of terebytes if they are video and photos. Like a years worth of work of a professional videographer. 

Wouldn't you think if they had video evidence, they would have already arrested anyone involved? Not sure how that works, but I would think so...🤔

[TSOL]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

 

Say what?  An allegation isn't evidence of anything.  Much less enough to charge and convict.  Just on the face of it, her saying she was 90% unconscious during it makes anything she way unreliable. 

 

 

You know, she's saying she things she was drugged as soon as she got to the party. She's saying he handed her a drink, she drank it and started feeling... Woozy 

[Big Blitz]

2 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Why?  What did Sal M and Skurski tweet/say/publish?

 

Spill the Tea!

 

Skurski is a POS - nice work Team Virtue Signal - you enable this trash

 

 

[dancing_joker]

What’s ridiculously hypocritical is Beane saying if they knew about Azaria’s allegations he would have been removed from their draft board immediately. They knew about the allegations for 25 days before it was made public and they kept him on the team. They even cut his competition. “Trust the process”

[Big Blitz]

Just now, dancing_joker said:

What’s ridiculously hypocritical is Beane saying if they knew about Azaria’s allegations he would have been removed from their draft board immediately. They knew about the allegations for 25 days before it was made public and they kept him on the team. They even cut his competition. “Trust the process”

 

 

Haack was gone anyway

 

I don't plan on punting much 

 

They didn't rush to cut based on allegations 

 

They let the process (a correct one) play out as long as they could.

 

They weren't hoping they'd "go away."

 

Skurski is a garbage human and anyone agreeing with his nonsense can go pound sand.  

 

 

 

Plus, It's a punter.  They could afford to wait it out unlike if it was a Left Tackle.  

[UKBillFan]

2 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I don't think @SectionC3 was referencing the two teams that picked punters before Araiza.  I think he was referencing the AP report that two teams (who did not draft punters) learned there were allegations of some sort around SDSU football players and possibly involving Araiza.

 

Ah, apologies for the misunderstanding if so. Odd how Wawrow apparently found these two teams but the Bills couldn't. Or perhaps did, and Beane answered the question very carefully.

 

2 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Skurski is a POS - nice work Team Virtue Signal - you enable this trash

 

 

 

In other words, did the Bills expect it to be settled? Otherwise, surely the risk of it coming out was obvious.

[Doc]

15 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

No, the SDPD concluded their nine month investigation on Aug 5th and turned all of their evidence over to the DA to determine what if any charged will be filed. 

 

The investigation includes TB's of data from search warrants they executed, recorded pretext calls with Araiza and who knows what else. 

 

Matt failing to tell the NFL, his agent and the Bills that he was under investigation by the police for allegations of rape during the draft process is the only reason the Bills organization is in the difficult situation they are in. 

 

Sorry, my mistake.  So that would explain why the P's lawyer filed the civil suit: because the DA refused to file criminal charges.

 

1 minute ago, TSOL said:

You know, she's saying she things she was drugged as soon as she got to the party. She's saying he handed her a drink, she drank it and started feeling... Woozy 

 

Another allegation.  The same thing happened at my son's fraternity, although no one was sexually assaulted.

[Big Blitz]

Skurski limited replies to that tweet because he knows he's a garbage human.  

 

Coward.  Freaking coward.  

 

I hate everything about Buffalo media. 

 

Except Sal and Wawrow.  

 

All the others are losers.  LOSERS

Edited August 28, 2022 by Big Blitz

[Motorin']

6 minutes ago, LyndonvilleBill said:

Wouldn't you think if they had video evidence, they would have already arrested anyone involved? Not sure how that works, but I would think so...🤔

 

I'm not saying they do have hard video evidence. If they do and they haven't charged anyone I'd say that's a real problem. I'm just commenting on the amount of data... Maybe they just copied all of the hard drives of 5 guys computers. That would make sense. 

[78thealltimegreat]

5 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Skurski is a POS - nice work Team Virtue Signal - you enable this trash

 

 

Sounds like Jay is really trying hard to have Brandon and Sean show up in New Orleans as GM and coach next year so we can go back to the good old days of 7-10 seasons and bickering about how our franchise QB wants to leave and has asked to be traded. 

[Tiberius]

Here is a story about the diaries and photos of the victim, in case anyone missed them 

 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/photos-allege-to-show-bruising-caused-by-matt-araiza-sdsu-teammates-gang-rape/3033103/

[loyal2dagame]

The Buffalo News and all news media for that matter have turned into dirt rags filled with opinions rather than facts and passing the opinions off as facts.  And people wonder why this country is in the shape it is. 

Edited August 28, 2022 by loyal2dagame

[Big Blitz]

I'm not clicking his article.  Not interacting.  Not reacting.  

 

Everyone should do the same.  

 

This team did it all it could to balance the facts and how to handle the rest of a young man's life.  

 

 

We're done and moving on. 

 

F that dude.

 

You just knew those stories were coming.  

 

It should infuriate the entire fan base

 

I'd like cancel culture to die - but in this case I'd like it to step in with trash reporting like this.  

[Motorin']

54 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Sorry, my mistake.  So that would explain why the P's lawyer filed the civil suit: because the DA refused to file criminal charges.

 

 

Another allegation.  The same thing happened at my son's fraternity, although no one was sexually assaulted.

 

The DA doesn't have a timeline as to when they have to file charges. They have not decided yet. 

 

The woman's attorney said they filed the civil suit for several reasons. The first is bc they don't have any of the evidence from the criminal investigation, and can't get any of it without the subpoena power that comes with the civil suit. 

 

The second is to bring public attention on the case, since they feel like it's being ignored. With the amount of public scrutiny the DA won't be able to sweep it under the rug if there's evidence to prosecute. 

 

And the third reason they stated was that she in particular did not want to see Matt play in the NFL and make a ton of money while she believes he did what she is alleging. So it's the opposite of a money grab, from what they said. And the fact that he got cut bc of the public attention they created and lost out on his playing salary would seem to back that up. 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Motorin'

[LyndonvilleBill]

3 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

I'm not saying they do have hard video evidence. If they do and they haven't charged anyone I'd say that's a real problem. I'm just commenting on the amount of data... Maybe they just copied all of the hard drives of 5 guys computers. That would make sense. 

Apologies. I didn't meant to imply that's what you were saying. I was more asking the question of "IF they did" wouldn't they already have made an arrest? IMO, It would REALLY bad if they had something and didn't act on it immediately...

[Beck Water]

16 minutes ago, loyal2dagame said:

Did teams other than the Pats* know Aaron Hernandez was a homosexual sociopathic gang member? Because New England acted like they didn't know. 

 

All teams have problems vetting players.

 

I believe if you go here

https://bfy.tw/TTj6

you can find some answers to that question.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324436104578581772197037576

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/patriots/2013/06/20/aaron-hernandez-investigation/2443091/

 

"And the message Thursday from around the NFL was simple:  They were warned."

 

Sometimes the issue isn't lack of information or problems vetting players.  It's that teams know there are problems, and choose to take a chance on drafting the player anyway because of the player's high potential at football.  Hernandez appears to meet those criteria.

[Motorin']

Just now, Doc said:

 

This is a "duh" if ever there were one.  They probably figured there was nothing criminal that would/could come of it (as far as Araiza was concerned) based on the evidence and the fact that the DA refused to convict.

 

That's a really bad assumption given how long these types of cases take. 

 

The case was only turned over to the DA two or three weeks ago. The fact that they have not brought charges in that time does not at all mean that they have refused to bring charges. They are still evaluating...

 

 

[Doc]

6 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

The DA doesn't have a timeline as to when they have to file charges. They have not decided yet. 

 

The woman's attorney said they filed the civil suit for several reasons. The first is bc they don't have any of the evidence from the, and can't get any of it without the subpoena power that comes with the civil suit. 

 

The second is to bring public attention on the case, since they feel like it's being ignored. With the amount of public scrutiny the DA won't be able to sweep it under the rug if there's evidence to prosecute. 

 

And the third reason they stated was that she in particular did not want to see Matt play in the NFL and make a ton of money while she believes he did what she is alleging. So it's the opposite of a money grab, from what they said. And the fact that he got cut bc of the public attention they created and lost out on his playing salary would seem to back that up. 

 

2 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

That's a really bad assumption given how long these types of cases take. 

 

The case was only turned over to the DA two or three weeks ago. The fact that they have not brought charges in that time does not at all mean that they have refused to bring charges. They are still evaluating...

 

This was mentioned earlier in the thread by a poster who prosecutes child sex assault cases.  I'm just trying to go with the most logical explanations.

[RiotAct]

11 minutes ago, loyal2dagame said:

The Buffalo News and all news media for that matter have turned into dirt rags filled with opinions rather than facts and passing the opinions off as facts.  And people wonder why this country is in the shape it is. 

agreed … very sad what’s happened to the Buffalo News in the last 20 years or so.

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

53 minutes ago, muppy said:

is bad publicity suddenly good publicity in the legal field?  I think his style of rhetoric could cause his career to plummet not succeed. JMO

Who said it’s bad publicity?   That’s all in the eye of the beholder.  
 

Oh and on the “style of rhetoric”…

 

PAGING MUPPY VAN WINKLE!   PAGING MUPPY VAN WINLE!   

This is nothing new. 

[Beck Water]

16 minutes ago, LyndonvilleBill said:

Apologies. I didn't meant to imply that's what you were saying. I was more asking the question of "IF they did" wouldn't they already have made an arrest? IMO, It would REALLY bad if they had something and didn't act on it immediately...

 

I think the end game for the DA here isn't to make an arrest, it's to obtain convictions.  Toward that end, it's more important that they gather as much evidence as they can and put the most solid case they can together, before they charge and make arrests. 

 

I'm hazy on what the law is here, but I believe once a person is charged and arrested, they have the legal right to full information about the evidence against them?  Hopefully one of our lawyers here will clarify.

 

With that understanding, if the arrest is made too soon and the police provide further evidence and the defendant's lawyers aren't notified in a timely way, it can jeopardize the case? 

 

The other question is the seriousness of charges to be filed, which depend upon a complete picture.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Beck Water

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Just watched the press conference. I personally felt Beane and McDermott handled it pretty well. I came away satisfied with their answers.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Buffalo_Stampede

[stevewin]

52 minutes ago, RunTheBall said:

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned - I bet McD met with the vet leaders of the team to get the temperature of the locker room. I suspect there wasn’t any pressure to stick by a rookie punter which helped with the decision to cut him.

Agree.  You factor in that kickers, even in normal circumstances, spend most of practice off by themselves, and I assume generally have less interactaction with offensive/defensive players.  Add in that he's a rookie that just showed up, I doubt the majority of the team had tight bonds with him.  I personally think almost to a man no one was grief stricken he was let go - it was probably a relief for most.

[Beck Water]

10 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

That's a really bad assumption given how long these types of cases take. 

 

The case was only turned over to the DA two or three weeks ago. The fact that they have not brought charges in that time does not at all mean that they have refused to bring charges. They are still evaluating...

 

TBH, there may be some cause-and-effect relationship between the alleged victim's lawyer going to the press with interviews and photos (July 29th), and the DA getting the case (Aug 5th)

 

It's possible that "shook something loose" where either the DA reached out to the SDPD and said "just WTF are you guys sitting on here?  what are you waiting for?" or someone in the SDPD said "we better identify what we're waiting for, fill those gaps, and move this along or we're gonna be on the slide end of a public microscope"

Edited August 28, 2022 by Beck Water

[Motorin']

13 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

I'm not clicking his article.  Not interacting.  Not reacting.  

 

Everyone should do the same.  

 

This team did it all it could to balance the facts and how to handle the rest of a young man's life.  

 

 

We're done and moving on. 

 

F that dude.

 

You just knew those stories were coming.  

 

It should infuriate the entire fan base

 

I'd like cancel culture to die - but in this case I'd like it to step in with trash reporting like this.  

 

Skurski should get over blaming Beane for not immediately releasing Araiza. 

 

The only reason the Bills were in the position they were in is bc Araiza did not disclose that he was under investigation for rape.

 

The Bills had no way of knowing there was an open investigation. The fact that Araiza never told his agent, the NFL or the Bills is the cause of the short term black cloud over the organization. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark92]

I personally think it's a tough spot for the Bills to be in.  You draft the guy, you feel like you know his character then this happens.  The Bills wanted to wait and see what this was all about because the investment they made into him and because of his talent.  They HAD to cut him after the civil case was made though.  At the very least he had sex with a minor.  It's disgusting and I feel awful for the young lady.  

[Big Blitz]

4 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

Skurski should get over blaming Beane for not immediately releasing Araiza. 

 

The only reason the Bills were in the position they were in is bc Araiza did not disclose that he was under investigation for rape.

 

The Bills had no way of knowing there was an open investigation.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

 

The fact that Araiza never told his agent, the NFL or the Bills is the cause of the short term black cloud over the organization. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see it (and many others do to) that the Bills went above and beyond - that we're the anti Browns.   That as soon as this escalated to something more they officially moved on.

 

The competition with Haack was seen as irrelevant bc he was gone anyway.  

 

They did the best they could given the circumstances and some would say they aren't sure he should have even been cut.  

 

 

I'm good with the decision and think the problem was the Tweet Thursday night left the "cut him immediately because feelings" crowd thinking they wanted to ignore it or they saw all these "facts" and said yea we're still good with him.  

[BillsFan692]

29 minutes ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Sounds like Jay is really trying hard to have Brandon and Sean show up in New Orleans as GM and coach next year so we can go back to the good old days of 7-10 seasons and bickering about how our franchise QB wants to leave and has asked to be traded. 

Lol what? He is just reporting what everyone in the world is thinking... bean and mcdermott look like #######s rn who cared more about winning football games than doing the right thing.

 

Now, they have recently made a turn for the better by doing the right thing and cutting this rapist punter. However, the definite perception of public is that they only did the right thing after they got caught doing the wrong thing.

 

Its a bad look and its being reported literally everywhere. This reporter is just doing his job and stating the very obvious.

 

It will blow over eventually. Bills are the least juicy target in all this next up is San Diego State and police department who were far more complicit than buffalo bills.

 

Just hope these dudes learn from this