Do not cross: Student reports sexual assault
Image: Nicholas Wooten
May 16, 2016
A Mercer student reported that she was sexually assaulted April 9 at one of the Mercer loft buildings.
According to the Mercer police report filed April 11, they were dispatched to the Medical Center emergency room on April 11 regarding the assault. The victim said she reported the incident to Mercer’s Title IX coordinator. She said she didn’t want to press charges at this time but reserved the right to do so at a later date, according to the report.
No additional details were available regarding the reported assault.
Five other criminal incidents were reported between April 11 and April 25, according to Mercer Police records. This included two reports of 1st degree Arson in the Science and Engineering Building and Sherwood Hall.
During the Sherwood fire, only the fire alarm in the front lobby went off, and the sprinklers didn’t activate, according to the police report.
Graduate Hall Director Casey Hopson was told by Auxiliary Service that the systems didn’t activate because there were no fire alarms in the hallway, and the fire wasn’t hot enough to trigger the sprinklers.
However, the report mentions the fire was only six inches from the ceiling.
The incident was not initially reported to Mercer Police. Instead, Resident Assistants told the students that if no one came forward, all the students would be charged $10, according to the report.
A male student reported someone had broken into his Chevy Silverado and taken change, a phone charger, a pack of Newports and his food.
A short time later, a Mercer Police officer found two suspects. One of them, a 17-year-old boy, was eating the Mercer student’s cheeseburger. The young man advised that a 14-year-old boy took the items from the truck.
The Cluster filed an open records request on May 16 to obtain reports that were entered in the university’s police system following April 25.
Any tips? Contact writer Nick Wooten at [email protected]
A full copy of the reports can be found at this link: Incident Reports.Wooten request.050116-ilovepdf-compressed (2)
Nicholas is a Southern Studies and Journalism double major at Mercer. He is a junior and serves as The Cluster's Managing Editor. He enjoys the works of...
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