Students allegedly treated roughly by campus security

Students, security services, coach say no comment

Morgan Modjeski, staff

On Oct. 2, while walking home after a night of drinking, three University of Manitoba students claimed they were apprehended and held in detention by campus security because they kicked over a garbage can.

However, after being interviewed by the Manitoban, each of the students asked that the story not be printed, saying that they were worried about potential implications to their places on the Bisons track team.

According to one of the students, the three were chased down and handcuffed after kicking down the garbage can. He said the students were intoxicated at the time.

A second student said he was uncooperative with campus security and claimed that he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed.

“The security guard was being rough but I was being standoffish. I was no threat though,” he said.

The first student said that he was not treated in a violent way. He said he was asked to lie on the ground while the security guards handcuffed him. Then, he said, he was taken back to the campus security office where he was detained for an hour and a half.

“They cuffed me, they talked to me about it, then they let me go.”

The day after speaking to the Manitoban, the first student called to request that his name and affiliation with Bison Sports not be printed in the paper. Later that same day, the second student made the same request.

The Manitoban was first tipped off to the story by a friend of the students,

Linda Lavallee, security director for the University of Manitoba, refused to comment on the incident.

Bisons track coach Claude Berube said that he would not provide a specific comment. “That story is over and done with, and I would prefer that there be nothing at all talked about that story. It’s an in-house issue that we dealt with,” Berube said.

By way of comparison, Bisons football player Randolph Simmonds was suspended from the team in May 2007 after being charged with assault off-campus. He was suspended from the team for violating the team’s code of conduct. He was reinstated for the fall football season, despite appearing in court on Oct. 5 and being found not guilty.

Bisons football head coach told the Winnipeg Free Press on May 11 that any of the 15 Bisons implicated in that incident, a bar fight at the Lid nightclub, would face serious consequences and could be suspended, kicked off the team, or expelled from the U of M. Dobie told the Free Press “To be honest with you, if our players are involved of course I’m really, really disappointed.”

John Danakas, U of M’s director of public affairs, said that Winnipeg police have trained the security guards on campus when it comes to using force and physical contact. He went on to say that security guards have the right to make an arrest when a criminal offence is being committed.

According to Gordon Friesen, staff sergeant of the Winnipeg police department, a person who is committing a criminal offence will be apprehended forcefully depending on the situation.

“An officer would apprehend someone physically if it were to protect someone else from being injured, or if someone was acting in a threatening way towards other people,” said Friesen.

The reasons why those affected chose not to comment are unknown.

— With files from Tessa Vanderhart.