Crime Prompts Added Patrols

Hoya Staff Writers Friday, September 22, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya The Department of Public Safety plans to increase patrols this weekend after multiple assaults last weekend.

After multiple assaults on and around campus last weekend, university safety officials are planning to implement additional safety measures this weekend to more closely monitor people coming onto campus. Early Sunday morning, a brawl broke out near Reiss Science Building following the break-up of a party in Henle Village. Different witnesses remember different details from the chaotic series of events that left three Department of Public Safety officials and two students requiring medical attention, but all have affirmed that the party attracted invitees from neighboring universities, and some who weren’t students at all. Dominique Cauley (COL ’09), whose friend hosted the party, said she could sense tension building and approached a friend about turning on the lights. They flipped the switch and cut the music, but the tension lingered as people spilled outside onto the sidewalk. “There were too many people in too small a space. Too many faces I didn’t recognize,” Cauley said. “I’m from an area where you just learn to know when something is not right,” said Cauley, who is a native of Southeast Washington, D.C. “I knew something was not right.” The subsequent fight that flared across from the Reiss Science Building sent DPS officer Timothy Desmond to Georgetown University Hospital. Smaller altercations extended as far as Red Square. Police reports indicate that Desmond was struck in the head with a bat, kicked, and punched by 8-10 suspects as he attempted to break up a fight. Officers Leroy Jackson and Ghedlom Kiros were also kicked and punched as they attempted to intervene. DPS called in for support from the Metropolitan Police Department, who responded to the scene. Chris Boone (COL ’07) and Eddie Brown (MSB ’07) live in Henle and played host to the party. Cauley said that word about the party spread on Facebook and via word of mouth. The party quickly filled up. “It was the ‘friend-of-a-friend’ effect,” Cauley said. “Guys came in. They were pretty shady. It was clear they weren’t from our school,” said Keegan Johnson (COL ’09), who was at the party. Johnson was attacked from behind as he left the party and complained of a head injury but refused treatment. After the lights and music were cut, Cauley said she and the hosts tried to calm the tension in the room. While people began looking for familiar faces and tried to regroup, a “mob of people” moved toward the Intercultural Center. Cauley said that no violent fighting occurred within Henle Village. Both Johnson and Charity Wollensack (MSB ’09), another party attendee, remember hearing students chanting “AU” and “HU,” acronyms for nearby American and Howard Universities, but both also emphasized the presence of other non-students from the Washington, D.C., area. Cauley and Anna Wheatley (MSB ’08) doubt Georgetown students were responsible for the injuries caused to DPS officers. She said that after the lights and music were cut at the party, Georgetown students headed home and all the Howard University students she knows waited for the G2 bus. “We’re a pretty small community here at Georgetown and we know most of the people who come from Howard,” Cauley said. None of her friends recognized the assailants. “There were students from local universities on campus that night,” said David Morrell, the vice president for university safety. “There’s no indication they were involved in injuring the officers or the students.” In response to last weekend’s brawl, Morrell said that the university will increase DPS patrols around campus around Henle, Village A and Alumni Square. He said that administrators would be patrolling campus as well. “It’s imperative that students know who they’re inviting and who shows up,” Morrell said. “Everyone is concerned about what happened last weekend.” He added that safety officials were concerned about people entering campus “who may not have been directly invited.” Cauley worries about the increasing warnings from the University about non-Georgetown students. “Talking about ‘outsiders’ makes it seem like Washington, D.C. residents aren’t part of the Georgetown community,” she said. Also last weekend, a group of students were assaulted in their Alumni Square apartment after being followed home from a bar. Herb Taylor, manager of the Grog and Tankard bar, said a physical altercation arose between a few students. Taylor said he was manning the door to the bar when 2-4 people began yelling and shoving. In accordance with bar policy, Grog and Tankard staff told the group to take the argument outside. The students declined comment, saying that DPS officers had instructed them not to speak to the media. Michael Shiu (MSB ’09), who lives in an adjacent apartment, said that he was awoken by the sound of yelling and banging on the door of his neighbors. According to Shiu, after roughly five minutes of banging on the door, the group impersonated DPS officers to try to lure the students out of the apartment. When that attempt failed, Shiu said, he heard group members say that they would try to get into the apartment from the side of the building. According to the Department of Public Safety incident log for Sept. 16, complainants in Alumni Square reported the breaking of an exterior window around 2:30 a.m. Morrell said that DPS had conducted a “very thorough” investigation and would forward its report to the Office of Students Affairs by the end of the day yesterday. — Hoya Staff Writer Stephen Santulli contributed to this report.