Cart Threft Ends Amicably for Students and College
By Nathan Fisher
Managing Editor
One month after two students were arrested and charged with felony grand theft auto despite the college's attempts to drop charges against them, an amicable solution has been reached for all parties that will most likely result in a clean record for both Will Beach '03 and Chris Hunter '04.
In an arrangement known as a "civil agreement," Beach and Hunter will have to complete 60 hours of community service each as well as write a two page essay on "the connection between behavior and consequences." If this is completed to the satisfaction of the judge and there are no extenuating circumstances, the students will most likely have their records cleared at a hearing in March.
This result was apparently achieved in part from Director of the Campus Center Neil Gerard's court testimony that Pomona would prefer to handle the situation internally. Gerard appeared in lieu of Dean of Students Ann Quinley at the request of Hunter's lawyer, according to Quinley.
In the early hours of October 27, Hunter and Beach were arrested after they twice stole the same golf cart within thirty minutes, eluding and provoking the ire of Campus Safety officers who, thwarted, eventually called the police. The on-call Dean, Assistant Director of the Campus Center Dave Swenson, authorized Campus Safety to turn the students over to police custody. Hunter was immediately detained, while Beach-who had fled the scene of the crime at the time police arrived-was arrested that afternoon at his off-campus residence.
The students subsequently spent fifty-one hours in jail after bail was set at $20,000.
"Considering what happened to begin with I'm fairly happy with the way things turned out on the legal end...but overall I don't feel that any of this should have happened in the first place," said Beach.
"I'm sort of pleased with the fact that the school cooperated with my lawyers in the civil agreement but I don't think the police ever should have been called," he said.
The students were given lenient penalties by the judicial board: conduct probation, restitution for damage incurred to the carts during their joy rides and letters of apology to Campus Safety and Swenson, according to Beach.
"It's not anything that would keep you up at night," said Quinley, with regard to the student's penalties.
"I don't always feel this way, but after all was said and done a lot was asked of [Beach and Hunter]," she said, explaining why the Office of Student Affairs did not request a harsher penalty from the board.
However, Quinley expressed reservations about the long-term merits of pressing the District Attorney's office to let the college deal with students internally.
"I'm ambivalent about protecting students from legal consequences. [Pomona] is a safe, cotton-padded, comfortable environment and I don't know if we're doing students a favor [by] protecting them from things that would get them slapped down in the real world," she said.
As a result of this incident as well as a death caused over the summer by an alcohol-related golf cart incident, new locks will be put on all the college-owned carts and all approved student drivers will be required to take some sort of training, starting next semester.
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