By Letitia Stein

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A third man has been arrested in the gang rape of a woman who passed out on a north Florida beach, an incident captured on videotape and witnessed by scores of rowdy spring breakers, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in broad daylight last month at the peak of spring break in Panama City Beach, where some 300,000 college students have been flocking in March and April for around-the-clock parties.

After a raucous party ended in a shooting that injured seven last month, officials temporarily banned drinking on the beach, a measure previously rejected over concerns about spoiling a lucrative business for many hotels and bars.

But the ban came after a woman in town for spring break was raped after blacking out behind a popular beach bar and club, said the Bay County Sheriff's Office.

A video recording captured the mid-March assault taking place in front of hundreds of spring breakers. Sheriff Frank McKeithen called it "one of the most disgusting, repulsive, sickening things that I've seen."

On Wednesday, the sheriff's office announced the arrest of George Davon Kennedy, a student at Middle Tennessee State University, on charges of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.

He was arrested in the Atlanta area, where he has family, according to the sheriff's office statement that did not identify his age.

Two students from Troy University in Alabama were arrested last week on the same charges. Delonte Martistee, 22, of Georgia and Ryan Calhoun, 23, of Alabama were suspended, a school statement said.

Law enforcement officials in the Florida Panhandle community are seeking to extend the ban on beach drinking beyond April 18, the traditional end of spring break season. This year, the parties appear to be continuing, the sheriff's office said.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Sandra Maler)