ECU student arrested in case of alleged 'mistaken identity'

Last Sunday, ECU junior Jarmichael Harris' life changed.

Around 3 p.m. on Sept. 28, Harris was approached by two ECU police officers who said that he fit the description of a suspect in an assault case that had taken place near Fletcher Hall just 12 hours earlier. The description? Allegedly, the attacker was a black male with glasses, roughly 5 feet 6 inches tall.

Harris was subsequently arrested on Thursday, Oct. 2 in front of Fletcher Hall on campus. He was released on an unsecured bond, with the understanding that he will show up to his Oct. 22 court date.

The ECU police department was unavailable for comment.

Harris claims that he was in his dorm room in White Hall at the time of the attack, which occurred at approximately 3 a.m. The victim's name has not been released, but Harris claims that neither he nor the victim know each other.

"I don't know him [and] he doesn't know me at all," said Harris, a rehab studies major. "Clearly he wants to know who did it, but I'm not the guy."

Harris, who is also the chief of staff for ECU's Black Student Union, is outraged at the vague description that landed him in handcuffs.

According to Kyndall Peele, vice president of BSU, the organization has been campaigning to have the "race" factor of the ECU alert system removed, although this incident involving Harris did not appear on the alert system at the university.

"I feel that if they're going to include race, then they need to include other races besides the African-American community," said Peele. "If you notice, a majority of students of color are identified while the majority [of other races] are not. I think that this just adds to the stereotype that minorities are criminals."

"How often do you receive an alert, whether it's off-campus or on-campus of a black male wearing a black shirt? That could be any person at any time," Harris said.

Harris says a description other than race should be used to describe victims and/or suspects on the ECU alert system.

"When giving a description of someone, maybe give a description of a tattoo or a scar, something the average person wouldn't have- a birthmark, mole, something," Harris said.

Harris also said that he doesn't feel that this is a racial case; rather, he would like the system to clearly identify people in order to make a valid arrest.

"I would like to make this very clear that this is not a racial case, but a case of mistaken identity, and this could happen to anybody," he said. "Too often, there are these very vague descriptions [of people]."

Peele agrees.

"This has nothing to do with race," she said. " I believe that it is an issue of equal opportunity. Our world is a diverse world and we are trying to get rid of the race [factor] that is on everyone's head."

Tomorrow, at 5 p.m. in Hendrix theatre, BSU will be addressing the incident involving Harris.

"We will be talking about a solution [to the problem]," Peele said.

After the meeting, members and attendees will be marching to the ECU police station to show their "support" for Harris and to raise awareness about mistaken identity cases.

This writer can be contacted at editor@theeastcarolinian.com.