OSU Suspends Four Football Players

Tuesday, November 23rd 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Oklahoma State University suspended four of its starting football players Monday. The action comes after Stillwater police began investigating the alleged rape of a 22-year-old student.

Stillwater is abuzz with questions of why four football stars have been suspended. The athletic department shocked the OSU campus by suspending Marcellus Rivers, Evan Howell, J-B Flowers and Alvin Porter just days before the team faces archrival O-U. The school said only that the players violated team policy.

Neither the Stillwater Police nor the school are calling the players suspects in a rape which occurred Sunday morning. A resident of the house where the rape was reported told the News on Six the players were at the home Saturday night.

Police say a 22-year-old college student called to report her rape. "Sometime between 2 and 4 o'clock in the morning she reported that she had been sexually assaulted by two or possibly 3 OSU students," said Stillwater police lieutenant Ron Thrasher. But police say four people were reportedly present when the rape occurred. "These people were all known to each other,â€ said Thrasher. â€œThey had all been drinking earlier in the evening."

The victim told police she had been at the bars on Washington Street near the campus. She says she then went to a party at the house where she says the rape happened. â€œWe conducted a search of the residence and collected a large amount of evidence," Thrasher explained.

Investigators are sifting through the evidence and hope to have some answers by the end of the week.