Spring Break
Snowball fight makes national news
One student arrested after hitting an officer
Brittani McNeill
Issue date: 1/27/09 Section: News
|
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.
Be the first to comment on this story