UPDATE 10/21/14 4:20 P.M.– In an email to The Daily Reveille, associate sports information director Will Stafford said junior sprinter Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake is suspended from the LSU track and field team after being charged with forcible rape.
Stafford said neither the Athletic Department nor track coach Dennis Shaver would have any further comment apart from the statement released by University media relations to The Daily Reveille.
The statement reads:
“We are aware that the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation about an off-campus incident. We are awaiting more information, but we want to reiterate that LSU has a zero-tolerance position for any criminal activity.”
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A junior member of the LSU track and field team was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison around 1:00 a.m. Monday on charges of forcible rape at an off-campus party, booking records show.
According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by The Daily Reveille, an 18-year-old female told authorities that Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake raped her at University Crescent apartments on Burbank and Jennifer Jean drives. Mitchell-Blake told authorities the sex was consensual.
The affidavit says the two were at a party at Mitchell-Blake’s residence and the victim told police she had consumed several alcoholic drinks. In his statement, Mitchell-Blake told authorities he had not been drinking and was unsure if the female had been drinking.
According to the victim’s statement to police, Mitchell-Blake waited for the victim after she exited the bathroom in his residence. The two then went to his bedroom, where they began kissing, according to the victim’s statement.
The victim told police Mitchell-Blake then started to pull at her clothes, and she told him she did not want to have sex and pushed him several times. According to the victim’s statement, Mitchell-Blake then pulled off her clothes, performed oral sex on her and then raped her.
In his statement to police, Mitchell-Blake denied raping the woman. He told detectives she first resisted him and said no and then changed her mind, saying “yes” later.
Because the alleged rape occurred off campus, LSUPD is not involved in the investigation.
Ernie Ballard, University Media Relations director, released the following statement via email.
“We are aware that the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation about an off-campus incident. We are awaiting more information, but we want to reiterate that LSU has a zero-tolerance position for any criminal activity.”
LSU associate athletic director and sports information director Michael Bonnette said the Athletic Department will have comment other than Ballard’s statement.
A sprinter and two-time All-American, Mitchell-Blake was a member of the Tigers’ 2013 Southeastern Conference 4×100-meter relay championship team. Mitchell-Blake anchored the relay team consisting of Aaron Ernest, Tremayne Acy and Shermund Allsop, which finished as runners up at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field championships held in Lexington, Kentucky.
He earned All-SEC and All-American honors in both his seasons at LSU.