Since the latest violent incident at Herkimer County Community College last Friday, rumors and untruths have been flying at broadband speeds through a number of different mediums, whether online or by word of mouth.
Last week, three HCCC students were arrested following a seven to eight minute brawl on campus. Lacrosse sticks were allegedly used as weapons and two victims were sent to Little Falls Hospital, one with broken facial bones.
Dean of Students Matthew Hawes dispelled multiple rumors, the first one being that the campus safety officer who handled the incident was fired, which is 100 percent false said Hawes.
“No safety officer was fired, disciplined or anything,” said Hawes. “The safety office handled (this situation) with the utmost professionalism and safety.”
Another untruth squashed by Hawes is the two victims in the incident were members of the HCCC men’s lacrosse team.
They did try out for the team at one time, said Hawes, but were not official members and were outside throwing a lacrosse ball around with members of the team immediately before the incident occurred.
The two victims and some witnesses who are on the school’s lacrosse team were put up in a hotel said Hawes.
He said men’s lacrosse coach Rich Dommer used his personal credit card to take the victims and some of the witnesses on the team off campus to quiet things down.
“This was (Dommer’s) decision,” said Hawes.
Around 6:30 p.m. April 25, HCCC Campus Safety responded to the fight at the Campus Meadows parking lot. Three students were charged with second-degree assault, David Altman, 20, Basil Chambers, 18, and Brian Johnson, 21, all originally of Brooklyn. Herkimer Village Court documents list Johnson’s current address as 245 S. Washington St., Apt. 2, Herkimer.
Chambers and Johnson were also charged with possession of a weapon.
All three were sent to the Herkimer County Correctional Facility in lieu of $15,000 bail, $30,000 bond.
Hawes said two of the alleged perpetrators are still in the Herkimer County Correctional Facility, Altman posted bail, and the two victims have gone back to school. He said judicial charges are still pending against the perpetrators.
“The whole incident was an unfortunate incident. It’s unfortunate that students decided to settle this in a violent way. Our policy and practice is we will not tolerate that behavior on campus,” said Hawes.
He said the college will continue to work with all students to help them understand and handle disputes. Hawes said the college may examine how it does this.