Long after the plug had been pulled on Oktoberfest last Saturday night, two students' attempts to keep the party going well into the wee hours of Sunday morning have resulted in jail time and misdemeanor grand theft auto charges for them, a curious outcome given that the college had decided not to press charges.
At 4:48 a.m., Will Beach '03 and Chris Hunter '04 were stopped by campus safety for the unauthorized use of college-owned golf carts, a familiar student post-party activity that has typically been dealt with fairly leniently, if at all, by the college.
The students allegedly told campus safety that they were an escort service, sanctioned by the college. Campus safety duly woke Assistant Director of the Campus Center Dave Swenson, the on-call dean, to confirm the students' story. Swenson informed campus safety that Beach and Hunter were not, in fact, on official college business. The students were warned, their identities recorded, and they were sent on their way, without the cart.
Approximately twenty minutes later, at 5:15, campus safety discovered another golf cart being joy-ridden about campus without authorization, which technically constitutes felony grand theft auto. Campus safety caught up with the cart only to allegedly discover the same two students committing the same crime.
The campus safety officers had admonished the students and told them to go home during the first confrontation and so the Claremont Police Department was called at 5:48 a.m. to handle the situation "It appeared to the officers that the students had been drinking and it became the primary concern to get them out of that golf cart," said Dean of Students Ann Quinley.
She cited a fatal accident that happened this past summer on Pomona's campus as a possible reason for bringing outside law enforcement in to deal with the situation. Last July, a non-Pomona affiliated visitor, who had been drinking, died from falling off a campus golf cart while travelling in the passenger seat. "Since this incident we all have become more aware of the dangers," said Quinley.
Hunter, apparently attempting to retrieve his house key (which he had used to hotwire the golf cart), repeatedly returned to the scene of the crime, eluding campus safety multiple times for nearly half an hour before he was finally apprehended by campus safety officers. Beach, in the meantime, allegedly fled the scene, evading capture.
When CPD arrived at 5:54, Hunter was turned over to them after Swenson apparently authorized his arrest under advisement by both CPD and campus safety.
"In light of [the death over the summer] and the frequency of cart misuse on campus, we really need to treat this sort of offense seriously or we will end up facing the same tragedy with a student," Swenson said.
Swenson would not elaborate further on his role in the incident, citing pending judicial board action. In addition to criminal charges, Beach and Hunter will eventually be served with a judicial board charge sheet from the college, according to Quinley.
Beach was arrested later that day at his off-campus residence. "My guess is that having caught person A they had wanted to get person B," explained Quinley.
Both students were charged with grand theft auto, which is a felony charge and can be considered for any case involving a vehicle with a value over $200. EZ-GO golf carts of the type involved in the crime are priced new at close to $6000.
Bail was set at $20,000 and consequently both students stayed in custody until their arraignment on Tuesday. "The 51 hours I spent in jail was probably the worst experience of my life," said Beach. "Both because of the conditions and the humiliation that naturally accompanies such a situation."
On Sunday, one of the student's father contacted the student's faculty advisor, who in turn contacted Dean of Women Toni Clark, who talked to the parent and helped him find a local attorney, according to Quinley.
Clark then contacted Quinley and asked her to recommend to the police department that the students be released so that the matter could be handled internally. Quinley agreed and contacted the police department "before 8 a.m." Monday morning.
"We felt as if it was a waste of valuable police resources to police annoyances. We told the D.A. that Pomona would be pleased if they dropped it," said Quinley.
By 5 p.m., however, it became clear that the district attorney had the final say in the matter, not the college, and that while the D.A. office was willing to reduce the charges to misdemeanor status, the students would not be released.
"My goal in all of this was to be polite and not annoying [to the D.A.]," said Quinley, citing a reluctance to upset a working relationship with the district attorney in the event of future student arrests.
Quinley believes that if the incident had occurred off Pomona's quiet sidewalks and pathways that a felony charge would have been more difficult to avoid. "If they had been driving the golf cart on Claremont streets, then it may have been more serious," she said.
"I think somehow we have to get a handle on these golf carts," Quinley said. "The last thing in the world I want to see happen is someone... to kill themselves."
Campus Safety Officer John Teuber seemed to agree, but offered his own solution. "For one thing, the mailbox keys work in the ignition, and so does anything else if you wiggle it in the cheap locks.... The solution is to install a more sophisticated ignition block."
