Stories about arrests differ
Editor's note: Because all charges related to the arrests described in this article have been dismissed, the Justice has removed the names of the individuals involved from the online version of this article. For the original text, contact the editor in chief at editor@thejustice.org.
Seven students who witnessed the events leading up to the arrests of two students on Oct. 23 provided their accounts of the incident, which are inconsistent with the accounts given by members of the Department of Public Safety, in interviews with the Justice. According to the Oct. 25 University Police Log, two students were arrested and charged under Massachusetts law with disorderly conduct and assaulting a University Police officer, and one of those students was also charged with resisting arrest. Both were arraigned last Tuesday and will have a hearing Nov. 23, according to records from the Waltham District Court House.
Both students declined to comment for this article. The lawyer of one of the students, Brian Murphy, a lawyer from Todd and Weld LLP, a firm of trial lawyers in Boston, could not be reached by press time despite repeated requests for comment.
Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan declined to comment yesterday on the student arrests, writing in an e-mail to the Justice that "this is a criminal matter in the hands of the court. Because of that I am declining any further comment."
In an Oct. 25 interview with the Justice, Callahan said that one of the students bit a University police officer as he tried to arrest him and that another University police officer hurt his back while trying to control the situation. Furthermore, Callahan said that the Waltham Police Department was called to provide assistance.
The seven student eyewitnesses who were interviewed said that while the student charged with resisting arrest in addition to the other two charges was extremely intoxicated, they did not witness him exhibiting any violent behavior. They also said that they did not see the other student engaging in disorderly conduct or striking a police officer and that he had not been drinking. The students also said that no drugs were involved with the incidents.
John Homans '12, who said he was present for the entire sequence of events up until the first arrest, admitted that he had been drinking but that he felt confident about his recollections from the night.
Homans said the two had attended a rugby social and that one of the students had consumed approximately five shots and two beers before the party and approximately 17 beers at the party. He explained that by the end of the social that student was so intoxicated that he and Ami Spiwak '12 had to carry him back to his suite in Ziv Quad.
Describing the student's state after the rugby social, Spiwak said, "John and I were on either side of him; he had his arms wrapped around us and he was dragging his feet along, so he was intoxicated, obviously."
Homans said that once they reached the suite, he and Spiwak and approximately three other students who do not attend Brandeis attended to the intoxicated student.
"We took care of him for a good hour," said Homans, explaining that the student vomited four or five times but was unresponsive and could not consume water or bread.
Amelia Rey '12, a trained emergency medical technician and a member of BEMCo who is friends with the student and lives in the suite below him, said that she was approached "because they didn't know what to do with [him], because [he] wasn't doing well at all." She said that when she came into the suite, she saw the student "completely unconscious."
"In EMT training, you're taught that when you see someone unconscious, you go through different levels of trying to establish how unconscious they are, so you can do verbal stimulation, which is just talking to someone to see if they respond--he didn't--you can move them, like shake their hands or shake one of their limbs to see if they respond-he didn't," said Rey. She also added that the students in the suite were paranoid about calling the police.
One student who wished to remain anonymous said that she made the call to BEMCo when those attending to the student observed that he might be vomiting blood.
Katherine Pena '12, another student who was present in the suite that night said that "what really scared us was that he was foaming at the mouth and we thought we saw blood coming out of his mouth."
Pena said that upon receiving the call, two EMTs arrived with Officer Anthony Celona, a member of the University Police.
Rey said that the officer and the EMTs made everyone besides the intoxicated student leave the room. She also said that while the BEMCo members were diligent and complied with protocol by going to the room to attend to him, "the cop was extremely aggressive."
Spiwak described the officer as aggressive as well. "As soon as the two BEMCo girls went into the room with [the intoxicated student], the officer ... became extremely hostile and verbally aggressive. He said, 'Get the f--- out of my face" [and] 'Get the f--- out of here,'" he said.
In Celona's incident report, a copy of which was obtained by the Justice from the Waltham Court House, Celona states that the student "began shouting and was uncooperative" with the EMTs when they began administering treatment and that he requested medical backup but that other University Police officers were "reassigned to a University sponsored dance" and were unable to hear his request "over the loud noise of the dance." Celona further explains in the report that he instructed the EMTs to leave and that upon his attempt to assist the student, "he swung his left hand towards me and hit me on the left side of my jaw with the back side of his hand."
Pena said that when the student came out of his room with the EMTs and Celona, she witnessed the police officer "take his hand on the back of [his] head and slam it into a corner." Homans and the student who placed the call to BEMCo also confirmed that they had seen the officer slam the student's head against the wall.
Pena said that after this incident, the student was handcuffed and taken in the elevator outside of his suite. None of the students who spoke to the Justice said they were present in the elevator with him.
According to Celona's account in his incident report, another University Police officer, Officer Brian Cogan, arrived to assist him, and the two escorted the student into the elevator. The report states that in the elevator Celona witnessed the student shout foul language at the officers and "spit on Sgt. Cogan's chest."
Cogan's account of the time spent with the student in his incident report is consistent with Celona's. Cogan's report explains that "Ofc. Celona informed me he had to handcuff [the student] because he was attempting to assault the responding BEMCo Units."
When the student was taken outside, Homans said that he and the other student who was later arrested that evening were at the "forefront" of the crowd of students that had gathered outside in Ziv Quad and were pleading with the officers to take the first student to the hospital.
He said that he witnessed that student being pushed into a police car and having his head slammed against the car.
Celona's incident report states that while he was handling the student outside, "Someone came up behind me and hit me in the back between my shoulder blades at the base of my neck." The report goes on to say that a BEMCo representative who was on-scene identified the second student, who was then placed under arrest.
However, the seven students interviewed said they did not see that student hit a police officer.
Eli Tarlow '12, who said he was standing outside with the second student arrested, said that the student was taking a video of the incident and that the police arrested him.
"The cops were telling us, 'You have to go inside, you're not helping the situation,' ... and [he's] just standing there and they come up and arrest him because he was taking [a video]. He was just [saying], I'm allowed to be out here, I'm a Brandeis student," said Tarlow.
Homans added, "The only contact [he] had with a cop was when the cop handcuffed him."
Homans said that he spoke with the first student arrested the Sunday morning after his arrest and that that student had no recollection of the incidents leading up to the charges brought against him.
"I called [him] immediately. It was ... 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, and he was crying hysterically," said Homans, further saying that the student had asked him to explain what had happened to him the night before.
According to Homans, the two arrested students returned to campus on Sunday Oct. 31 after being suspended last week and are attending classes again this week.
When asked to confirm these matters, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer declined to comment, citing legal restrictions and privacy matters.
-Ian Cutler, Brian Fromm, Fiona Lockyer, Nashrah Rahman and Jillian Wagner contributed reporting.
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