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A video circulated on Instagram Saturday showing three people dragging and hitting another person on the grass outside Huntington Hall on Friday night.

The Syracuse Police Department responded, but witnesses said the officers would not take their statements, said Brian Cohen, a freshman in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, who said he witnessed the event.

“There was a fight call on Friday night, the victim was uncooperative,” an SPD spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Orange Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses noted that the person on the ground was a person of color and that the other people were yelling at the person, saying that the person stole their wallets. In the video, the person on the ground seemed to say “check my pockets.” 

Witnesses said that the person who was hit told witnesses that they are not an SU student.

Bobby Maldonado, chief of Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety, and Allen Groves, senior vice president for the student experience, said in an email Sunday night that they are investigating the incident by looking for and reviewing security footage, viewing videos and photos taken of the violence. They also ask anyone who can identify any of the individuals to come forward by contacting DPS, SPD or the Office of the Dean of Students, or by submitting an anonymous tip.

Maldonado and Groves said in the email that they cannot confirm whether any of the people in the video are SU students, as they have not been identified yet. If a student is found to have been involved in the assault, they would face repercussions such as interim suspension as well as referral to the Office of Community Standards and SPD, according to the email.

This is a developing story. The post will be updated with additional reporting.

Published on October 17, 2021 at 10:00 am

news@dailyorange.com