According to a newly released police report, the beating that took place in front of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house last month appears to have been perpetrated by a single aggressor.
Furthermore, PIKE’s campus charter has been placed on interim suspension and the fraternity is no longer allowed to host its annual Fight Night or recruit new members this quarter.
According to a police report - made available to the Daily Nexus yesterday by the Isla Vista Foot Patrol - at approximately 2:20 a.m. on March 2, UCSB students Thanh Hong and Paul Elekes were attacked in front of the PIKE fraternity house. During the incident, documented as two separate counts of battery, the victims were attacked from behind and punched in the face; Hong sustained a lip laceration and sought medical attention.
Isla Vista Foot Patrol Lt. Brian Olmstead said the police report suggests a single aggressor was to blame for the battery. This report contradicts previous accounts that linked multiple subjects to the incident.
“Based on e-mails and reports being distributed throughout the community, IVFP would like to clear up some of the information being disseminated,” Olmstead said in an interview yesterday. “At this point in the investigation, we believe only one suspect was involved in the battery of the victims as well as responsible for the racial slurs.”
According to the IVFP police report, five to six men were hanging out in front of PIKE when one of the subjects began hollering at Hong and Elekes, who were passing by the fraternity.
“The subject appeared ‘drunk and belligerent,’” reads the report. “Hong and Elekes ignored him and continued walking. The subject then hollered at them and came up from behind and pushed them both in the back. The subject said [omitted] [omitted] [omitted] - this was possibly in reference to Hong’s Asian ethnicity. The subject then lunged at Elekes and began punching him on the left side of the face. Hong tried to help Elekes and the subject punched Hong once in the mouth, lacerating Hong’s upper lip.”
Hong and Elekes described their assailant as a thin and muscular white adult male, between the height of 6’2” and 6’4” with black spiky hair. He was reportedly dressed in a dark blazer with a white shirt underneath and dark dress pants during the attack.
The report states that while a group of subjects stationed outside PIKE witnessed the battery of Hong and Elekes, they did not actively participate in the beating.
Despite their presence, the group of subjects feigned ignorance when IVFP officers arrived on the scene at 2:49 a.m.
“I asked if anyone saw the assault that happened several minutes earlier and everyone said no,” reads the police report. “I asked them about the fresh blood on the sidewalk and everyone denied knowing anything about it.”
At around 5:00 a.m., IVFP officers returned to the PIKE house once more and noted the subjects were still gathered outside the fraternity. This time, however, a new subject was present at the scene, pacing the property in possession of a broomstick.
“We asked if walking around the planter box with the broomstick was a hazing activity,” reads the report. “But no one would admit to it. However, it appears that is what was happening.”
Andrew Irwin, former Interfraternity Council President and PIKE Fight Night coordinator, said the fraternity has since been placed on interim suspension by the university and lost ownership of its annual boxing tournament.
“At the moment we are not hosting Fight Night if there has been no hearing [before April 17],” Irwin, a fourth-year business-economics major said. “We have a lot of issues we are dealing with right now. We are trying to get our campus recognition back and working on changing the name of our fraternity. But our number-one priority is raising money for the charity and keeping our commitment to the kids. Our charter and our reputation are secondary to that.”
While PIKE awaits a judiciary hearing - the date of which has yet to be determined by the university - Irwin said the fraternity has unofficially transferred the reins of Fight Night to Pi Alpha Phi, a multicultural fraternity.
In the face of ongoing police investigations, Irwin said he is certain the name of the fraternity will be cleared when the facts of the case emerge at the hearing.
“We just want to make it clear PIKE is innocent until proven guilty,” Irwin said. “We want justice for this guy and he deserves that but we should not be put in this position because of an allegation. We have been helpful throughout the investigation and been cooperating with the police. It is frustrating that all of these allegations are giving us a worse reputation when at the end of the day we are confident it will be found we have no fault.”
In the wake of the incident, the leadership of Pi Kappa Alpha issued the following statement on behalf of the fraternity:
“It is our hope that the actions of this one individual are not generalized to the members of Pi Kappa Alpha, either individually or collectively. To do so would broadly condemn an entire group of individuals, which may be as unfair as the remarks reportedly made to Thanh [Hong] and his friend. Until all the facts are in, we would like to reiterate our concern for this serious matter and desire to do our part and continue assisting in the investigation of this incident.”
Posted by Gauchos2010
Monday, April 6, 2009 at 01:27 PM
I don’t understand why this situation going on with PIKE is making front page news of the daily nexus again! The last two volumes of the nexus have had PIKE on the front page and the writer doesn’t seem to be getting her facts straight as the article is just merely updating the situation going on. The UCSB greek student body comprises less than 15% of the actual UCSB undgrad population! I want to read about floatopia, my sports teams and other things that actually matter and affect the majority of the students! Not one person beating up someone (i’m glad whoever did it though is getting in trouble), but seriously a front page article about a fight….what about the one on DP yesterday, or the one going on right now! This happens all the time and i’m tired of reading about it!!