Students worried and confused after campus arrest

Police take a man into custody following an incident on campus at Loyalist College. Photo by William Acri

By Suzanne Coolen

BELLEVILLE –Some students are feeling confused and uneasy following a second incident involving police this semester at Loyalist College. But other students QNetNews spoke to say they feel safe at Loyalist.

Loyalist student Melissa Powell was in the cafeteria when police arrived and said students were disoriented as events unfolded.

“We saw the police rush into the building and then they shut the doors to the cafeteria and wouldn’t let us out. No one knew what was going on and it was pretty terrifying.” she said. “I think there needs to be more review of procedures, like what to do in the event of a lockdown. Last week, when we had a fire drill our class was a little confused on where to go and what to do.”

Student Erica Darling shares the same concerns when it comes to reviewing lockdown procedures.

“Security could be a little better. Some of our teachers have gone over what to do if there is a lockdown but only because we have asked them to,” she said.

Advertising student, Mitch Duesling said he feels safe but because there have been issues on campus, more security would help.

But others are not as worried. First-year student Michelle Miller says she generally feels safe.

“I think these sort of occurrences happen on colleges and high schools so its not uncommon. I think social media hypes it up a bit,” she said.

General Arts student Billy Salter said for the most part he feels pretty safe.

“I think security is doing a good job. I think door checks and metal detectors are a good idea. But even that seems a little extreme,” he said.

Adam Parrott, who is taking General Arts, is happy with the way the school handled the incident.

“Its hard to respond to situations that happen on the whim. I think security does a good job of handling things properly,” he said.

Stephanie Maltais, an advertising student, said she has never felt threatened on campus.

“I think that hiring more security can’t hurt as long as they continue to have fast response times,” she said.

All of this follows an incident Tuesday on campus. Around 1 p.m. a man was pepper sprayed and handcuffed by police, then taken away from the main entrance of Loyalist College. Students close to where the disturbance happened were quickly shut inside the dining hall.

Several officers hauled the man to a police van and the man was seen by eyewitnesses hitting his head against the vehicle window and shouting as he was taken away.

Mo Cranker, a second year journalism student, witnessed the arrest.

“I saw six or seven police officers pulling him to the car. The guy was yelling at police and started bashing his head against the window as the car was driving away.”

Another journalism student, Sean McIntosh, was in the cafeteria when the students were blocked inside.

“I heard a lot of profanity from the suspect,”  he said. “It seemed like he didn’t mean to do anything and was trying to win the crowd over. I saw him banging his head against the police car door.”

In a media release, Belleville Police said the man had a knife and was showing it off to students. He did not brandish or utter threats to anyone using the weapon. The man was removed to a secure area away from other students and became confrontational and resisted arrest. Police subdued him with pepper spray.

Loyalist College President Maureen Piercy sent an email to students and staff shortly after the arrest acknowledging the incident.

“Please be assured that Loyalist has taken every precaution to ensure the safety and security of all students and staff,” Piercy said in the email.

She also said in the email that the person involved was not a Loyalist College student.

Shane Patrick Sabourin of Carleton Place, Ontario was charged with  possessing a dangerous weapon, assaulting police, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance. He is appearing in court today.

Crisis and trauma experts will be on campus on October 9 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. to provide critical incident stress debriefing sessions to students.