USC’s Don Hill, named a suspect in sexual assault, sent home by USC

USC linebacker Don Hill was sent home from Texas on Friday “for a violation of team rules,” a USC spokesman said. In a Los Angeles Police Department search warrant obtained by The Times, a woman accused Hill of engaging in sexual intercourse with her, without her consent, while she was intoxicated.

Hill is the second USC player to be suspended or sent home for the season-opener against Alabama for the same alleged incident on July 14.

Linebacker Osa Masina is being investigated by the LAPD, and by the Cottonwood Heights (Utah) Police Department for a second allegation made by the same woman pertaining to an incident 12 days later.

Neither Masina, who is from Salt Lake City, nor Hill, from Boise, Idaho, have been charged with a crime.

Police in Utah informed USC’s Department of Public Safety of the allegations on Aug. 2. A USC DPS detective reported that the woman said she was assaulted by two individuals on July 14. In the search warrant, Masina and Hill are named as the two suspects.

Masina has been practicing with the team, but did not accompany the Trojans to Texas, where USC will play Alabama on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Hill had traveled with the team on Thursday evening.

Hill has been suspended twice before by the football team, once in 2015 after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, and again for spring practice this year for a violation of unspecified team rules. A USC spokesman declined to specify whether Hill had been officially suspended again but confirmed he had been sent home.

USC Coach Clay Helton announced the suspension of Masina on Monday, also for a “violation of team rules.” Citing privacy laws, Helton and a USC spokesman offered few details. Helton said the university, not the football program, has handled the disciplinary actions.

Times staff writers Nathan Fenno and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhelfand