Charges likely in Saturday incident

The Penn students who allegedly assaulted Princeton University student John Brantl last weekend will face charges, maybe some as serious as aggravated assault, University of Pennsylvania Police said yesterday.

Brantl told police yesterday that he would be pressing charges against those responsible.

"As far as we know [Brantl] wants to press charges," Deputy Chief of Investigations Bill Danks said. "The possible charges could be as high as aggravated assault due to the fact that he poured liquid that, at the time, [the victim] did not know whether or not it was flammable."

During the incident, a group of Penn students allegedly entered a Quadrangle lounge at about 4:15 a.m., where approximately a dozen Princeton students were sleeping. The students were on campus for a debate tournament. One of the Penn students then allegedly poured motor oil on Brantl and threatened to light him on fire with his cigarette.

According to police, it is still unclear whether one or more than one Penn students could be charged in connection with the incident.

Students have said that five males entered the lounge together. However, reports have indicated that only one of these students poured the motor oil over and made the threat to Brantl.

Police have not yet positively identified those responsible. Although Brantl did not indicate until yesterday whether or not he planned to press charges, Penn Police have continued to look into the incident.

"Clearly we did not stop the investigation since the time the incident happened," Danks said. "We've gone along at full speed. Our investigation was being conducted independently of whether [Brantl] was going to press charges or not."

The Penn Police department is the only law enforcement agency involved at this point because the incident occurred in the Quad, where the department has "exclusive jurisdiction."

Once an arrest is made, the incident will be referred to the District Attorney's office, who will prosecute the student or students responsible.

To determine what charges will be made "we would have to run what information we have through the District Attorney's office," Danks said. "It is the ultimate decision of the DA."

Office of Student Conduct officials would not confirm whether or not the office is involved at this point. However, they did acknowledge that they are frequently involved in this type of incident.

"An incident of this nature is the kind that the office of student conduct handles," said Michele Goldfarb, director of OSC.

Goldfarb could not offer any suggestions on any potential outcomes, were this case referred to the office, however.

"I wouldn't even attempt to predict an outcome until we have completed the investigation," she said. "Our goal is to get to the bottom of what occurred... and determine an outcome, assuming there is an outcome after the investigation is complete."

The police and the OSC generally conduct independent, sometimes simultaneous, investigations into such incidents.

"Disciplinary cases can and often do occur in a parallel context with a criminal case," Goldfarb said. "It depends on the circumstances, but nothing prevents us from proceeding with a disciplinary case."

Brantl did not return phone calls yesterday.

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