Students arrested in Lathrop, Main

Amanda Melillo Contributing Editor

Two students were arrested by the Town of Poughkeepsie police in the early hours of Saturday, Oct. 7, between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. The first arrest occurred when a student was found trespassing in Main Building, and the second after a student was caught discharging fire extinguishers in Lathrop House.

Vassar Security called the Poughkeepsie Police Department at 2:27 a.m. when Matthew Williams ’08, a student on Security’s trespass list, was spotted by an officer in Main Building. Williams had been banned from campus, and Oct. 7 marked the second time he has been arrested for violating the ban. Because Williams failed to show up for his court date, he was charged with two separate offenses upon his most recent arrest.

“Vassar is private property, and we can tell a student that he or she cannot come back and will be arrested if he or she does,” said Dean of Students D.B. Brown. “This particular student was told [not to return to campus], came back, was arrested, then came back again and was arrested again.” Brown said that the College formally considers Williams to be a student on a mandatory leave of absence.

At 3:19 a.m., shortly after Williams’ arrest, an anonymous caller informed Security that a fire extinguisher had been discharged in Lathrop. Security kept students clear of the area while staff cleaned the residue. At 4:06 a.m., a student passed the restricted area and discharged a second extinguisher. Officers checked the building and found the offender, Edmond Horsey ’09, upstairs. Poughkeepsie police were called at 4:27 a.m. after a scuffle ensued between Horsey and Security officers. It was later determined that he had removed a third fire extinguisher, causing damage to the wall, and thrown it out the window.

Lathrop residents forced outside by multiple fire alarms that night expressed concern, noting their recent experience with the Sept. 10 fire in the dorm.
“The first time the alarm went off, we...didn’t see anything,” said Lathrop resident Kegan Andeskie ’09. “But when we were outside, someone said there was an actual fire.”

“Everyone thought there was a fire because it looked like there was smoke in the hallway from the fire extinguisher,” added Lexi Cote ’09.

When asked how the house team has responded to questions and complaints, House President Amalia Sax-Bolder ’08 replied that her involvement was minimal. “I think the House Advisor [Jocelyn Tejeda] is generally trying to keep us out of it because of privacy issues,” said Sax-Bolder.

Horsey was charged with the violation of harassment to the second degree, misdemeanors of criminal mischief to the fourth degree and tampering to the third degree, as well as possession of a forged instrument, which is considered a felony. Like Williams, Horsey is now considered a student on a disciplinary leave of absence.

According to Director of Security Donald Marsala, town police are called to intervene on campus if a student causes violence or endangers others. He noted that students in violation of the law must face both the criminal justice system and the College Regulations Panel. The Poughkeepsie Police Department added that these cases are prosecuted by a district attorney and usually result in plea-bargaining.

Brown would not say whether either case would lead to a College Regulations Panel hearing, but said of Horsey’s case, “We’ll be dealing with that in some sort of disciplinary way.”
Details of College Regulations hearings are posted on the bulletin boards of both the College President and the Dean of Students, but no information is made public until a decision has been reached.