USC DE Don Hill won’t play vs Alabama amid rape investigation
By Dani Bostick
USC Trojans defensive end Don Hill won’t be at the season opener against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
USC defensive end Don Hill is facing consequences for an alleged sexual assault he committed in his off-campus apartment in July. Neither charged nor arrested, Hill is accused of having sex with a woman who was unable to consent because of alcohol, Xanax, and marijuana use. His friend, Osa Masina, USC’s backup weakside linebacker and high school friend of the alleged victim, was also present during the incident.
The woman at the center of the incident told investigators she could not speak and could barely move due to her intoxication. According to the California penal code, a sexual encounter is a rape when:
"A person is prevented from resisting by any intoxicating or anesthetic substance, or any controlled substance, and this condition was known, or reasonably should have been known by the accused."
ESPN also reported Masina took a video of a sexual encounter with the woman without her knowledge or consent and distributed the video to the woman’s ex-boyfriend via Snapchat. The ex-boyfriend told police that the woman “did not appear to be alert” during the encounter. Masina is also accused of a separate rape that occurred later in July in Utah, according to SI.com.
While neither player has been arrested, the LAPD served a warrant for Masina’s phone and DNA. The woman in the case reported the incident to police who administered a rape kit.
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Masina has been suspended by the team and will not travel to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for Saturday’s game against Alabama, however. Colleges are under increasing scrutiny for the way they handle sexual assault cases. USC certainly does not want to be this season’s Baylor, whose football team ignored numerous allegations of rape.