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Four Colorado State Students Were Allegedly Brutally Beaten By Three Football Players

This is really, really bad for all involved. Three Colorado State football players, Mike Orakpo, Nordly Capi, and Colton Paulhaus, are currently suspended indefinitely as police investigate an alleged beating incident from over the weekend. The victims in the incident, four Colorado State freshmen, sustained injuries including “black eyes that were almost swollen shut, cuts, bruises, chipped teeth and a shoeprint stamped on the back of the most severely beaten victim.”

The fact that the situation resulted in injuries like that is bad enough, but what’s even worse is how the situation didn’t even seem to have a specific spark. According to witnesses, the SUV the players were in drove by the victims – while the vehicle’s passengers shouted homophobic taunts at them. One of the victims, Donny Gocha, shouted that same homophobic taunt back. After that, the vehicle’s occupants got out and started beating Gocha, and the three others suffered their injuries when they came to Gocha’s aid.

Obviously this sounds terrible no matter how it came about, but why did it even start? The only thing that would even somewhat explain it is that apparently the incident occurred “after police had broken up a large party in the area.” Maybe there was trouble between them at the party?

Ultimately, though, that’s beside the point. Whether or not anything that happened prior caused it, this incident got way, way out of hand, and as you can see in the screengrab above, some kids got pretty badly hurt as a result. If the ongoing investigation confirms what witnesses said about the alleged beating (and the fact that one Colorado State player was on Facebook apologizing for his teammates’ actions makes it seem likely they will), it’s hard to imagine the suspended players staying on the team. Not exactly how new Colorado state coach Jim McElwain envisioned ringing in his first season.

[The Big Lead]