Not Disorderly, Not Resisting, Not Excessive

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A college freshman charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in October has been acquitted of those charges, and an internal investigation by the University Police concluded that the officers who arrested him had acted properly and did not use unnecessary force. At a trial last month, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge James DeLeon found the freshman not guilty and said there had been no basis for his arrest. “The judge said we didn’t make the case,” said Tom Seamon, Penn’s managing director of public safety. “We respectfully disagree.” The incident began when a University Police officer told the allegedly intoxicated freshman, his older brother, and a friend that they were under arrest while standing outside the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity on Locust Walk. The freshman and the friend ran inside the fraternity; after the friend exited through the back door, he allegedly assaulted four officers, putting two in the hospital. A large combined force of University and Philadelphia Police then entered the fraternity and handcuffed the freshman. He and several members of the fraternity claimed the officers had used excessive force, charges that Seamon said were groundless.

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