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STUDENT GROPES 6 WOMEN IN PITMAN

By Eric Lam

News Editor

Security arrested a male Ryerson student after six women were groped at a Pitman Hall floor party last Friday night.

“A person in Pitman had grabbed a number of female students inappropriately,” said Lawrence Robinson, manager of Security and Emergency Services.

“He was not a resident, but had been signed in by another resident.”

According to Robinson, none of the women wanted to press charges, but a security watch released Tuesday said the man had been charged by police.

The man was “wandering the halls” and had grabbed and chased after women, even after they told him to stop several times.

When security approached the man, he became violent and assaulted the officers, who then subdued and handcuffed him, the watch said.

“He was obviously drinking, completely drunk,” said Stephanie Walters, one of the hosts of the fourth-floor party.

She added the man had gotten so drunk, at one point he hit his head on one of the walls and passed out on the floor.

“I saw him on the ground in one of our floorways. He had hit his head and people were attending to him,” she said.

The man also hid in several rooms before he was arrested, forcing security to chase after him.

“They were handcuffing him, and he was resisting,” said Caitlin Fraser, who lives just down the hall.

“He didn’t want to get handcuffed, I guess. They had him pinned down. They were both shouting, they were telling him to stop resisting.”

She said the man was screaming in pain because one of his hands was in a cast.

Walters said the man was a female student’s guest who had signed him into the building. “He was roughly our age, 18 or 19,” she said.

“The guest who brought the guy said ‘I hope my friend won’t make any stupid moves tonight.’ So she kind of knew. I just think you shouldn’t be stupid about who you’re bringing.”

She said the man had touched a girl in one of the rooms of the apartment, and one of those girls then made the call to security.

“He thought he could just get away with it,” she said.

Alyna Hamid, another Pitman resident, said she saw the man standing in the middle of a group of security guards. “The guy said ‘I didn’t do anything.’”

She said there were a lot of non-students at the party, and the party was “packed.”

Other students on the floor described the party as a “tequila party” or a “black light T-shirt party.”

“The vast majority of guests just want to visit their friends,” said Glen Weppler, manager of student housing. “There are times when guests don’t behave appropriately.”

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