In what appears to have been a random act of violence, a group of young adults, possibly including at least one Dartmouth undergraduate student, allegedly attacked a group of Dartmouth graduate students outside of Topliff dormitory early Sunday morning.
The fight led to one arrest and the Hanover Police Department and the Department of Safety and Security are both engaged in independent investigations to find the remaining assailants at large.
Daniel Casella '02 was arrested and charged with assault, a misdemeanor offense that carries up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine, and then released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail. A hearing has been scheduled for October 24.
Casella declined to comment for this story.
Hanover police received a call for assistance from Safety and Security at 1:06 a.m., Sunday morning. At the same time, an ambulance was called for. The first officer arrived on the scene at 1:07 a.m.
Reading from the report of the crime, Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaconne described the scene when his police officers arrived as "complete pandemonium." There was "a lot of yelling and screaming and people were incoherent." He said at least ten people were at the scene.
Several people sustained minor injuries, including Casella, who had a bloody nose and a bruised left eye, Giaconne said, but only Casella has been charged with assault.
"If [Casella] was a primary attacker, it does not necessarily mean that the person who inflicted injuries upon him will be charged ... you are allowed to defend yourself," Giaconne said.
The two groups of students apparently did not know each other, Giaconne said.
Heidi Peterson TU '01, one of the graduate students who was attacked, declined to comment, citing the advice of College deans and investigators. Similarly, Safety and Security Sergeant Investigator Lauren Cummings said that he could not comment on the continuing investigation.
The investigation will take at least several more days, and in fairness to the process, it would not be appropriate to comment prematurely, Cummings said.
There remain, as of yesterday afternoon, suspects at large, presumably having fled the scene upon the arrival of authorities. Hanover police and Safety and Security are making every effort to locate those people.
Should those people be found, and were they to be Dartmouth undergraduates, they would face similar legal penalties to Casella in addition to penalties that could be placed on them by the College.
Upon hearing of the charges, Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly said that students involved would potentially be in violation of Standards of Conduct I and VI.
According to Standard of Conduct I: "Students and student organizations must not engage in behavior which causes or threatens physical harm to another person or which would reasonably be expected to cause physical harm to another person." An example of this behavior, as given by the Student Handbook, would be "use or threat of physical violence or injurious conduct."
"Certainly for Standard I, there is precedent to suggest that it would be a suspension-level case," Kelly said.
Standard of Conduct VI says: "Students and student organizations are subject to disciplinary action for violation of the laws of any jurisdiction, whether local, state, federal or foreign."
And while no report had reached Kelly's desk at this time, a report from Safety and Security is expected "within a matter of days," Kelly said.
Another possible punishment that is just below suspension is College Discipline, which places a permanent mark on a student's record and is very much like probation, Kelly said. Additional conditions could be placed on students, such as forbidding them to play on college sports teams. Casella plays on the varsity hockey team.
Dean of the College James Larimore said that if Dartmouth students were involved, he would hope and expect them to come forward. "The College does expect students who are involved or have witnessed misconduct to take seriously their responsibility to the community. I would urge anyone involved to contact Safety and Security."
"Violence is inappropriate, and drunkenness is no excuse. I hope and expect the investigation will turn up more factual information so that we will have a better understanding of what actually happened," Larimore said.
Larimore declined to comment on whether students who came forward would receive leniency, because he may be called upon to chair the Committee on Standards hearings that follow.
