Waverly Hart
News Editor
On Saturday Jan. 27, a student running down the sidewalk on Beall Ave. was assaulted by a suspect in a passing car who threw a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew at the student.
The student, Brian Lief ’19, was warming up for a race he was supposed to run at the Fighting Scots Track and Field Invitational that day. Roughly 30 minutes before his race, Lief and his friend were running on the sidewalk past Babcock Hall when the bottle was thrown at him.
“We’re running down Beall and we pass the Babcock driveway, and I didn’t even see it coming but this thing just hit me in my jaw,” Lief said. “So I immediately went down; it was painful. I fell over immediately. I didn’t know what had hit me at first, I was a little dazed. I got up and looked and I saw this almost-full two liter bottle of Mountain Dew right next to the driveway.”
According to Lief, the bottle drew blood and left a bump on his right jaw.
Two Wooster students were in the car directly behind the one that threw the Mountain Dew bottle. Those students followed the car for several minutes so they could get the license plate. They quickly reported the incident to Security and Protective Services (SPS). After his track race, Lief also went to SPS to describe the event.
While at SPS, Lief was shown the video of the incident that had been captured by one of the cameras. Although they haven’t yet, SPS is planning on putting up more cameras to help capture incidents such as these. Lief said that the video was hazy and didn’t capture the incident very well.
“The closest camera that captured it was at the corner of Wayne [Ave.] and Beall [Ave.]. The incident was at the Babcock driveway so obviously that’s not a great view, so … you can see me fall but you can barely even see what happened. The only thing it showed is a car slowing down, me falling, and then the car speeding back up. That’s all it shows,” Lief stated. “From the video, I think you can only tell the license plate because it was driving north and it drove past the camera, but if the car would have turned around, you probably couldn’t tell. The incident was also blocked by a sign.”
Knowing the license plate number, SPS handed the incident over to the Wooster Police Department. The police have identified the owner of the car but haven’t charged him because they don’t have enough evidence against him. The owner of the car is blaming the incident on someone else.
Since the case has been handed over to the police, there is not much else SPS can do.
“I will issue a No Trespass Letter to the person,” said Steve Glick, the director of SPS. “As to the criminal case, the case will be presented to the county prosecutor for review of any applicable criminal charges.”
Lief said he is confused as to why the police haven’t charged the owner of the car yet. At this point, he is waiting for the police to update him if anything happens. Lief plans to contact the police if nothing happens within four weeks.
Additionally, Lief is very appreciative of how supportive the Wooster community has been to him after the accident.
“The amount of support I’ve gotten has been great. The administration has been very helpful,” Lief said. “I got a message from my class dean, Laurie Neff; she … let me know that there were resources available if I need anything. I’ve gotten messages from her, Steve Glick and also somebody at the Wellness Center. I do think [the College] has done a good job of reacting to it.”
While Lief still feels safe on the Wooster campus, he says he is trying to be more careful.
“I think it’s such a random thing … Obviously, now I’m more vigilant, but I’m not going to go out of my way to avoid Beall [Ave.], because I feel like the odds of something like this happening again are very low. But I am more aware of my surroundings,” Lief said.
After the incident, Lief went on to win second place in his race, running a 2:03 800 meter race at the meet.