High school football player quits team after rape charges

Quote:

A high school football player accused of rape has decided to quit the team despite school officials defending his right to play, saying he is "innocent until proven guilty," his attorney told ABC News today. Tyler Smith, 18, was arrested last month and faces two counts of rape from an incident alleged to have happened during the summer, and another in 2012, according to court documents. "He's not going to play for the rest of the year," Smith's attorney Scott Campbell said. "You show up at practice, there's a news truck there. It's something he and his family decided." "He felt like it was a distraction for his team and the school and he didn't want that," Campbell said. Hoquiam High School and the district's superintendent were allowing Smith to stay on as the team's defensive tackle, despite outrage from other students' parents, ABC affiliate KOMO reported. Hoquiam School District Superintendent Mike Parker said he backed the coach's decision to let Smith play. "We felt that he's innocent until proven guilty," Parker told the station. "As bad as the crime might be, as repulsive as the crime might be, we're trusting that the court system will sort that out for us." Smith is accused of raping one girl this past summer and another victim in 2012. The teen admitted to police that one of the victims said no, but stated, "Yeah, but I thought she was saying 'no' for pleasure and not to stop having sex," according to the charging documents. Smith declined an interview with ABC News through his attorney. Smith pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned last month. He is due back in court on Oct. 27 and his trial is scheduled for Dec. 2. His case comes as professional and college football are also in the spotlight for abuse allegations.

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The glaring problem with this piece of news is Tyler Smith and his family made the decision to quit the team, because school officials believed he was "innocent until proven guilty." Yes, they're still waiting for the trial, and for the legal process to run its course, as more details emerge, but a suspension or an indefinite leave of absence would've been an appropriate form of punishment for the time being.



Allowing Smith to play sends a misguided message: the rape charges are not a big deal, and football is the top priority. As far as Smith and his family making the decision to quit, you get the feeling it wasn't a "we need to do the right thing" decision. If Smith and his family wanted to show any signs of nobility, he should've quit, when all of this started, before the story hit the news, right?



True, we don't have all the details yet, but the "yeah, but I thought she was saying no for pleasure and not to stop having sex," line is a troubling piece of information from the article. On top of that, we're talking about two incidents here, with the most recent incident happening over the summer. Smith's future is still up in the air, and the school and the coaches could've avoided the impending backlash, but they dropped the ball with a "let's wait and see how things play out" approach to Smith's case.



All thoughts and discussion regarding this article are welcome.