Football players suspected of assaulting student

The Office of Student Conduct is investigating charges that three drunken football players attacked a student last weekend. Three football players are under investigation by the Office of Student Conduct for allegedly assaulting a University student last weekend in what is thought to have been an unprovoked, alcohol-related attack. According to friends of the student, the three players pulled the victim out of his room in an off-campus house and kicked him repeatedly in the face, injuring his jaw. The three team members refused to discuss the incident, with one noting that he was "told by my coach not to comment." Penn football coach Al Bagnoli declined to discuss any specific elements of the alleged assault, saying "right now, the only comment I have is it's in the hands of the [Office of Student Conduct] and, when they have a decision, we'll react accordingly. "The University has a procedure if you're a football player or anyone else," he said. The victim also refused to comment on the assault. University Police said they would not discuss the case until their investigation is complete. In discussing a preliminary report last week, however, they told The Daily Pennsylvanian that an assailant punched and kicked a male student on the 100 block of South 39th Street. Friends of the victim, who requested anonymity, said the incident began early in the morning of September 28, when the victim and his friends refused to allow the football players into their house after the players banged on the front door and demanded entry. Instead, the students went upstairs to the victim's room and shut the door, one student said. Another resident of the house then opened the door to allow the four students outside -- at least three of whom were football players -- to enter the building so one could use the bathroom, according to College senior Ali Nakhai, who was at the house. "[The player who had to use the bathroom] was very upset that I didn't open the door for him," Nakhai said. "All four of them crowded me and were yelling." After a friend of the football players told them to leave Nakhai alone, Nakhai fled upstairs to his room and did not come out until after he saw University Police arrive. One football player then went upstairs and began to bang on the victim's door, according to an eyewitness, who requested anonymity. The student opened his door to see who was there, but quickly closed it and started calling 911 after seeing the enraged and drunken football player, the witness said. But the football player forced the door open and threw the student into the hall before he was able to finish dialing the police, the witness added. "Somebody grabbed [him] and basically threw him," he explained. "Then he stood over him and said something and kicked him." The eyewitness added that "there was also another guy who came in? and stood over top of him. He was yelling too, but the only thing he did was when [the student] tried to stand up, he threw him on the ground." After leaving to get help, the witness said he passed a third member of the group coming up the stairs. The witness added that he could identify all of the assailants, and another student said the victim told police the assailants were three football players he would be able to identify. One witness said the victim was "very bruised" after the incident. Another student described the football players as "dirt drunk and belligerent" and said the victim was sore the next day, when he was diagnosed with an injured jaw at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The students under investigation are allowed to practice and play on the team pending the OSC's ruling, Athletic Department spokesperson Shaun May said. "We're just going to wait and see what the process bears out," he said. OSC Director Michelle Goldfarb cited confidentiality requirements in refusing to confirm or comment on her office's investigation. But she did said that, in general, if students are found to be responsible for a simple assault, virtually any punishment is possible depending on the exact nature of the incident.