Snowball fight makes national news

Once again, ECU has made national news. Unfortunately, it's not for an academic accomplishment or sports victory. For the second time in months, ECU has made headlines for a run-in between students and campus police. A snowball fight involving more than 200 students got out of hand last week, prompting police to take action. One student was arrested and one officer had to use pepper spray on students.

This incident, which occurred last Tuesday, happened only months after students had a run-in with police in September when students rushed the football field, following the Pirates upset of then No. 8 West Virginia. However, public opinion of the incident seems to be much different as many students and onlookers agree that the situation got out of hand and required police interaction.

The snowball fight started as the result of a Facebook event created after the weather forecast predicted six to eight inches of snow for Greenville. It began on Central Campus, and moved to College Hill where police were on hand to monitor the events.

As the snowball fight continued onto College Hill, students lined both sides of the road and continued hurling snow and ice randomly. There were reports of snowballs being thrown at cars as well as students opening car doors and pouring trays of snow inside.

ECU Police Chief Steve Shelton said the police responded to numerous phone calls from people concerned about the activities getting out of hand.

"We got several calls throughout the whole day; it wasn't just a one call incident. We had calls from students, we had calls from staff from ECU," said Shelton.

He said the officers weren't trying to ruin the student's fun, but only wanted to protect innocent bystanders as well as drivers.

"We were not concerned about the snowball fight itself, we were concerned about the safety of others and their safety in their vehicles," he said. "A lot of people were running into the street and pelting the cars with ice and snowballs.

"We absolutely had no concern that they were just involved in a snowball fight, that's good to see. I'm glad they were having a good time. We love to see the students having fun."

ECU senior Quintin Mallette says his car was hit as he drove down College Hill.

"I was driving up the hill and I had a lot people throwing snowballs at my windows. I thought my windows were going to break," said Mallette.

"My car got stuck and there were some people trying to help me get out…some guy while my door was open threw a snowball at my window and it hit me in the face."

Mallette says he thought the police reaction was warranted and that the students involved didn't represent the university well.

"It made me feel embarrassed for the university because if I hadn't been someone who knew that everyone at ECU wasn't like this, or who knew he was the exception to what being a Pirate is all about, then I would judge the whole university on the disrespect and immaturity of this one individual," Mallette said. "And it makes me ashamed that people like him have the power to define the whole university."

Throughout the fight, there were reports of students intentionally aiming for the face, or hurling trays full of ice at each other. One student was hit in the eye with ice. Police responded to reports of minor injuries.

Not only did the snowball fight get out of hand outside, but there were also reports of students entering The Galley food court area on College Hill and throwing snowballs and ice at people inside.

Police sirens chirped to halt the snowball fight, but as students ignored the warnings, police moved to break up the chaos.

Freshman Steven Rashad Bass was arrested after hitting an officer with a chunk of ice. Many videos of the fight and the arrest have been posted on YouTube, and the story has been covered by national news sources such as Fox News and the Associated Press.

"The police officer told [Bass] not to throw any snowballs at him and the person threw a rather large chunk of snow and ice at him, and then he ran from the police officer," Shelton said.

Bass was charged with "resist, delay or obstruct" for resisting the arrest. He was also charged with assaulting a police officer, after throwing the chunk of snow and ice.

Students rushed one officer who was making an arrest and the officer used pepper spray to halt the crowd.

John Durham, executive director of university communications said that the university would not release an official statement about the incident.

"The best we can tell the activities began with a friendly snowball fight and kind of escalated from there," said Durham. "The reports that we have are that pieces of fruit [were] covered in snow that was thrown and ice was thrown. Both pedestrians and motorists that were not involved had snowballs thrown at them."

Chief Shelton said he was pleased with the way the officers monitored and handled the situation, and that some of the media's response was unwarranted.

"The way some of the media was portraying it was really out of proportion," Shelton said. "The use of the pepper spray was very limited in nature and wasn't sprayed on the whole crowd…the officers did their jobs and they handled themselves quite professionally I think."

Shelton said he understands that someone has to be the scapegoat in these types of incidents, but he is confident that the university and the community understand and appreciate the police taking the safety of students and bystanders seriously.

"I've received maybe three e-mails …one from a parent, and anonymous sources really poking fun at us and that's OK. We have to have broad shoulders and accept it," he said. "It seems that the majority of students and other people realize that it wasn't just an innocent snowball fight. I think the community understands that."

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