A 22-year-old white male Ithaca resident was allegedly assaulted on the front lawn of 722 University Avenue at 2:37 a.m. on Saturday, according to Cornell University Police (CUPD).
The intoxicated victim told police that he had been at a party inside the house of Lambda Upsilon Lambda, a Latino fraternity, when he became involved in a fight which moved outside, said Linda Grace-Kobas, director of Cornell News Service.
Police reported that they were responding to a “fight in progress” and arrived at the scene after the incident had passed. They received “conflicting comments” from witnesses, according to Grace-Kobas.
Capt. Randall Hausner ’85, CUPD, was unable to confirm whether or not the altercation began inside the house. “I think it may have started inside,” Hausner said. Nor could he remember if there was a party at the fraternity house.
Hausner recalled receiving multiple complaints when police spoke to witnesses, but could not describe the nature of their statements.
Grace-Kobas, however, said the reports indicated that six males were involved “in fighting with the victim, but when police spoke to people at the scene, they said they were trying to help him.”
Grace-Kobas added that CUPD “hasn’t identified all who were involved in the melee.” She and Hausner both stressed that police are continuing their investigation.
The victim refused medical treatment and has not yet filed charges against his attacker. But the Judicial Administrator cannot intervene to punish the offenders until the victim files charges with CUPD.
Several details of CUPD’s account of the incident conflict with that of T. J. Carrivales, president of the Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity.
According to Carrivales, the alleged assault was completely unrelated to anything occurring inside.
“This had nothing to do with our fraternity. There was no party in progress,” Carrivales said.
He noted that they had registered with the University to have a party Friday night, but the gathering never took place. “If there was a party they [the University] would have known,” he said.
Carrivales suggested that the police may have assumed there was a party at Lambda Upsilon Lambda because neighboring fraternity houses were hosting parties that evening.
“On Friday night I was just watching T.V. and there were never more than four people in my house the whole evening,” Carrivales said. He added that he saw someone receiving medical treatment on his front lawn.
Although he claimed the fight did not originate in his house, Carrivales stressed that he did not doubt it occurred outside, or that participants might have run to the back of the house which borders on other fraternity houses.
He considered the police reports of this incident to be misleading, since they did not question anyone from Lambda Upsilon Lambda where the victim said the incident began.
“No one [from CUPD] approached us at any time,” Carrivales said. He plans to file a report of the incident with CUPD today.
Archived article by Ken Meyer