By Alice-Anne Lewis
The BYU ROTC issued a written apology Monday for the “over-enthusiastic actions taken by the Army ROTC cadets” at the end of the BYU-Utah football game Saturday.
While no reports have been filed with University Police, some BYU students have complained that they were tackled, punched and beaten by ROTC cadets and police officers while trying to rush onto the field after BYU”s emotional win over Utah.
University Police Lt. Greg Barber defended the actions of the officers and the ROTC cadets they asked to help in crowd control.
“From what we have documented, we didn”t do anything wrong,” Barber said.
Bryan Hall, 23, a senior from Boise, Idaho, majoring in English, said he was taken to the hospital Saturday night. A CAT scan found he suffered a concussion after being thrown to the ground and placed in a headlock by an ROTC cadet, he said.
Jeremy Litster, 24, a graduate student from Boise studying accounting and a roommate of Hall, said he is not looking to press charges after five ROTC cadets tackled him. But he hopes the ROTC compensates Hall for his medical expenses and his own tattered clothes.
Aaron Call, 22, a junior from Sandy, majoring in finance, said he passed three police officers before being clotheslined by an ROTC cadet.
Call said the cadet picked him up and threw him on top of an advertising partition before he was punched and cussed at, leaving him with a torn sweatshirt and a black eye.
While thrilled moments before by BYU”s enthralling finish, Tara Blumer said she was instantly disgusted by the scene that unfolded before her — which included a female student getting clotheslined by an ROTC cadet, knocking her flat on her back.
“I left the game feeling sick,” said Blumer, 20, a junior from Mesa, Ariz., majoring in biology.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said there have been no first-hand accounts reported to police, but the university is looking into the situation.
Thousands of fans jumped past railings, ignoring signs that stated it was illegal to leave the bleachers and enter the field, and several women with small children were thrown up against the railings when students began storming the field, Barber said.
University Police”s policy is to ensure safety with whatever means necessary, Barber said.
The police asked eight ROTC cadets and two officers — who man the cannon at the stadium”s northeast ramp — to help if fans rushed onto the field, said Major Gregory Weisler, an Army ROTC spokesman and an assistant professor of military science.
Orange-vested Events Staff workers are told not to touch people who run out onto the field, but rather to serve as a visual reminder that students should remain in the stands, said Larry Duffin, director of Special Events.
But unlike Events Staff, ROTC cadets were not given specific instructions about how to act if masses charged the field.
“We were not prepared to be involved,” Weisler said.
Army ROTC Captain Erik Verhoef, who was stationed at the north end zone, said he didn”t anticipate the crush of fans.
“We aren”t trained in crowd control,” Verhoef said. “We were just trying to help out the police.”
The ROTC said it acted out of concern for fans” safety.
“Right in front of me, there was a couple with an 18-month-old baby,” Weisler said. “Anything could have happened and anyone could have been killed.”
Call and Hall acknowledged they were breaking the law, but as Hall said, “I was in the company of 10,000 other people.”
Call agreed, noting that an ROTC cadet assaulted him after police did nothing to stop him.
“If it was against the law, the police had a wide-open shot at me,” Call said.
Some students said the ROTC”s action seemed justified.
From his front row seat, Ryan Dewey, 25, a 2001 BYU graduate, said some cadets were too rough, but most were just doing their job.
“They weren”t trying to hurt anyone,” Dewey said. “They were just keeping people from coming off the stands.”
