Three Oregon basketball players—Damyean Dotson, Dominic Artis and Brandon Austin—have been dismissed from the team after the trio was involved in a forcible rape investigation stemming from an incident in March at a party thrown by former Ducks point guard Johnathan Loyd. Dotson had been the only one of the three to be investigated for the alleged rape, even though Artis and Austin had been named in the police report. Initially the teammates had been suspended, or as the school put it, “not currently participating in any team activities” before getting booted completely from the program.
Per a source Dominic Artis, Damyean Dotson,and Brandon Austin have been booted from the basketball program.
— Matt Prehm (@Prehmmr247) May 6, 2014
Here are the details of the night in question via the Oregonian. You can read the entire police report by clicking here.
In the report, the victim alleged that she had been drinking alcohol on the night of March 8 prior to attending a party with two friends at the home of former Oregon point guard Johnathan Loyd. Over the course of the night, the victim told officers she was sexually assaulted in three separate instances, each time by all three Duck players.
When asked how she identified the men, the victim told the reporting officer that, “They look like they do on the basketball cards they hand out at games” and that the players had identified each other by name several times.
The alleged assaults involving Austin, Artis and Dotson took place in a bathroom at the party, twice — the first incident was interrupted by someone walking into the bathroom — and also later at an apartment.
Sadly the Lane County District Attorney’s office couldn’t, or wouldn’t, prosecute any of the three due to an underwhelming lack of evidence, so it looks like getting kicked off the Oregon basketball team will be the only punishment the trio will face.