Salvador Rodriguez said he found a naked girl in the bushes, and he offered her his shirt. He helped her to a bench, slick with spilled drink.

A former roommate — now a rape suspect — appeared out of the shadows of the Richmond High School courtyard on homecoming night and told Rodriguez he needed to leave. Roughly.

Rodriguez says he thought about finding a phone, but didn't want to leave behind the 16-year-old victim of the brutal gang rape Oct. 24 that stunned the nation.

That's his story. The 21-year-old once arrested for the crime now wants his neighbors to know he's not a monster.

"Nope, I did not rape her," Rodriguez told KGO-Channel 7 during an interview Tuesday. "I did not beat her. I did not rob her. I did not rape her. I was trying to help her. That's all I want people to know."

Rodriguez spoke in front of the campus, shortly before six other young men accused of the crime appeared across town in Contra Costa Superior Court.

Richmond police also arrested Rodriguez, four days after the assault, but prosecutors declined to charge him for lack of evidence.

"We know Salvador (Rodriguez) was there. The investigation is continuing," police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "We are still awaiting the results of forensic tests," expected later this week.

Rodriguez said his DNA will not appear. He says he saw a crowd hanging out in a courtyard on the north end of campus and stopped to say hello.

"I saw

kicking. I saw people dehumanizing her," he said. "I had just come (to campus) to skate. They had their own bottle, I wasn't even drinking with them."

He said he saw about six people in the group, including 19-year-old Manuel Ortega, with whom he says he once lived and who is charged in the case.

"I reached for her and she started screaming," Rodriguez said. "I said, 'Hey, I want to help you! I don't want to hurt you!'"‰"

She calmed after that, he said. Rodriguez said he sat beside her and clothed her in his shirt, though police later found no such shirt at the crime scene.

Rodriguez ran from the police during his arrest, during which officers used force to subdue him.

"People say, 'Why didn't you call the police?'"‰" Rodriguez said. "But at the same time, I live in Richmond."

Meanwhile, in court Tuesday, a prosecutor handed over 685 pages of documents and 28 DVDs containing evidence to defense attorneys for the six defendants in the case.

"In most average felony cases you're talking less than 100 pages," prosecutor Dara Cashman said after the defendants identified their attorneys in a Richmond courtroom.

More than 60 people, many of them teens supporting the defendants,

watched the latest court appearance for Cody Ray Smith, 15, of San Pablo; Ari Morales, 16, of San Pablo; Marcelles Peter, 17, of Pinole; Jose Carlos Montano, 18, of Richmond; Manuel Ortega, 19, of Richmond; and Elvis Josue Torrentes, 21, of Richmond. Prosecutors said the brutality of the crime led them to charge the juvenile suspects as adults.

Police say they believe they've arrested all the main participants in the rape.

Defense attorneys on Tuesday received an amended complaint, which now includes charges for all six defendants. Smith withdrew his previous not guilty plea so his attorney could review the prosecution's case.

Attorneys and family members for the defendants had no comment Tuesday afternoon.

Reach Karl Fischer at kfischer@bayareanewsgroup.com or 510-262-2728. Follow him at Twitter.com/kfischer510. Reach Malaika Fraley at mfraley@bayareanewsgroup.com.