Intoxicated Physical Plant worker enters Quad, harassess residents

Students question whether he bypassed lax security to enter dormitory An intoxicated Physical Plant worker entered the Quadrangle and verbally harassed several students last Friday afternoon, University Police Sergeant Tom Rambo confirmed yesterday. The worker originally began talking to a group of about eight students outdoors in the lower Quad, according to College freshman Carter Caldwell, who was present at the scene. Within 10 to 15 minutes, the worker was detained by police and returned to his supervisor. "He pushed his way into our circle and just started talking," Caldwell said. College freshman Marc Shalam, who was also standing in the group, said the man pointed to a room and said, "That's my room. I live there." The worker also told Caldwell that he was a Navy Seal and had been in the Army for eight years. "Then he pretended to point a gun at me and said, 'I've killed people before. I could kill you,' " Caldwell added. At that point a residential advisor called the police from a blue light phone. According to College freshman Blaik Ross, who also witnessed the incident, it took about 10 to 15 minutes for the three officers to arrive at the scene. College freshman Heather Roehrs said she was exiting the Quad when she witnessed the disoriented worker entering through the exit gate. "He was staggering into the Quad," she said. "I was trying to get out of the Quad and I had to step to the side because he was coming the wrong way through the exit gate and fumbling with it." But according to Assistant Director of Residential Living Operations and Facilities Gordon Rickards, the worker used his employee PennCard to enter through the turnstile at the Quad's upper gate and therefore "did not violate Quad security." The turnstile, which had been broken since last Wednesday evening, was not repaired until an hour after the incident, Rickards added. According to Joe Kirk, manager of Residential Operations, the broken turnstile meant that the worker could not have been physically stopped from entering if he had not had his PennCard. A student working behind the Quad desk at the time of the incident, who requested anonymity, said she would have prevented anyone without his or her own PennCard from entering the Quad. She added that she did not distinctly remember the worker entering. But Roehrs said her immediate reaction was to look up to the security desk. "The girl working was watching the man come into the Quad, but she didn't do anything," Roehrs said. And according to many Quad residents, an inactive Quad security staff, and broken entrance and exit gates are not out of the ordinary. "Everything that has to do with security is wrong," Wharton junior and RA Jon Brightbill said immediately after Friday's incident. Caldwell also said he has witnessed many students walking through the turnstile without their PennCards. And Wharton freshman Vivek Bantwal said he no longer officially signs in his guests. "My friends just walk through the gate," he said. Roehrs said she agreed. "I ride my bike the wrong way through the exit gate all the time, never swiping or showing my PennCard," she said. "I must have gone through at least a dozen times before I got caught." Caldwell said the security guards often do not notice these security violations. When they do, they fail to react properly, he said. "Once, the guard saw what happened, knocked on the window and sat back down," he added.