According to both a University Police dispatch summary report and eyewitness accounts, officers responded to a simple battery call in Biever Hall room 627 at 11:36 a.m. that left a freshman injured and bleeding on Sept. 14.
Two New Orleans Police Department squad cars parked outside the Rec Plex as second district police entered the building, as well.
Biology freshman Rebecca Engel and management freshman Shannon English were the roommates occupying that room. Residents on the sixth floor of Biever said it was Engel who hurt English.
Their neighbor Karen Bell, chemical biology freshman, said she was in her room when she heard screaming and rushed out into the hallway.
“All I saw when I came out of my room was (English) leaning against the doorjam crying and bleeding everywhere and just screaming for help,” she said.
Bell then saw Engel sitting on her bed typing a text message on her cell phone “as if nothing had happened.”
Another eyewitness asked Engel if she was responsible for making English bleed, and according to Bell, Engel said, “‘Yeah,’ in that, ‘Of course I did. What kind of question is that?’ kind of voice.”
UP officers arrived at the scene by 11:40 a.m.
As Bell and others rushed to press a washcloth on English’s head, they noticed bloodstains on the carpet. The bloodstains had been cleaned and a “Caution, wet floor sign” placed outside Biever room 627 by Friday evening.
English didn’t respond to an e-mail from The Maroon, while Engel responded, “Right now, I can’t answer any … questions, but if you give me a couple of days, I will be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.”
Captain Roger Pinac of UP said that while his office is “the investigative police arm,” they will not determine the disciplinary consequences of the incident, but that the Office of Student Affairs will.
“I’m sure they’re taking it very seriously, because it was a very serious incident,” he said. “Whenever you have two students involved, especially in close proximity that live together, it always has the potential to escalate, so they’re going to take it seriously.”
Pinac added that he assumed the incident was going to “have some fairly serious consequences.”
According to Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, the severity of the disciplinary action the Biever resident faces hinges on the findings of a Student Affairs disciplinary board after a hearing.
“It all depends on what happened,” he said.
Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at [email protected]. Jess Burrola, Steve Heath and Andrew Poland contributed to this report.
