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Tallahassee police hand over 300 police reports linked to FSU athletes

 
Published Dec. 25, 2014

The Tallahassee Police Department has released more than 300 police reports involving FSU athletes.

In September, ESPN requested incident reports for 360 FSU student athletes. In response to the request, the TPD released hundreds of police reports to ESPN Wednesday in which "the name provided by the reporter was mentioned as a witness, victim, suspect, reporting party, etc.," according to a news release from TPD.

During the process of collecting case records, TPD discovered one case "had a piece of evidence which was not immediately processed."

"The follow-up report details the steps taken to process the evidence in July 2014, which ultimately had no impact on the case," the TPD release stated. "The case was subsequently reclosed. The incident involved a former FSU football player and no charges were filed after consultation with the State's Attorney's Office. The case, in its entirety, is attached to this release."

FSU starting RB Dalvin Cook is listed as an "associate" in either an "open" or "active" aggravated assault case by two men who are alleged to have "brandished a firearm at a neighbor on July 17th, 2014."

"We are committed to ensuring that every citizen of this community, including our university students, know that we take every report of possible criminal activity seriously," Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo said in the release. "We also have an obligation, under state law, to respond to national media requests such as this and have done so professionally and with a commitment to openness."

FSU and its athletic program have been the subject of multiple probes by national media outlets, most notably ESPN, the New York Times and Fox Sports. In a recent column, the New York Times portrayed FSU football as a "team that doesn't have to follow rules as long as it keeps winning."

The article cited several off-field incidents involving FSU football players, including high-profile sexual assault allegation against star quarterback Jameis Winston. The State Attorney's Office opted not to press charges against Winston because of a lack of sufficient evidence. TPD has come under scrutiny for the way it has handled cases involving FSU athletes, with the New York Times stating "few of the incidents were ever aggressively pursued by the police."

©2014 The Orlando Sentinel