Student arrested on campus

This archived article was written by: Brooke Van Wagoner

The consequences for a drunken rampage can be pretty stiff as a USU Eastern student learned on Jan. 24. This particular night began with an Eagle Experience and ended in an arrest.
During a school activity, that was also part of an Eagle Experience, the student’s behavior was getting him noticed. Witnesses said he was becoming aggravated and raising his voice. His fit was causing a scene and the student was asked to leave before things could get out of hand.
Later that night, Officer Jeff Wood was dispatched to Aaron Jones Residence Hall on a property damage report. He spoke with the RA’s and they recounted the incident. A student athlete from Idaho had been involved in a heated dispute. Several of his teammates tried to calm him down with no success. He fought against their attempts to restrain him and fell to the ground, breaking through a wall in the second floor hallway. Furthermore, the student damaged a fire extinguisher and punched a hole in an adjacent dorm room. Leading up to these events, Officer Wood had dealings with the student and perceived he was intoxicated. The RAs were instructed to gather witness reports and from there, Wood went to find the suspect.
He started his search at the student’s dorm room, but he wasn’t there. Reports then came through that the student had last been seen in AJ room 301. The officer immediately responded to the dispatch, yet on arrival found he had already left. As Wood was leaving the dorm complex, he encountered the suspect standing in the darkness on the east side of AJ.
When contact was made, the student said he knew they had been looking for him and that his father was an attorney so he would not be answering any questions or taking any tests. The suspect was then handcuffed and transported to the Carbon County Jail by Officer Wood.
While finishing up the booking process, a phone call was received by Officer Wood from the RA on duty. She was in possession of the completed witness reports. Overhearing this conversation, the detained student athlete spoke up stating that he alone had damaged the wall and his friends had nothing to do with it.
Once the written statements were gathered it seemed obvious the suspect was solely responsible for the damage done to AJ’s interior. Collectively, the witness’s statements concur that the student appeared to be intoxicated and not acting in a reasonable manner.
In total, the damage caused was about $300. The student was booked into jail for the offenses of criminal mischief and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.