Posted: 09/05/07

Trespassing notices issued in 300s field incident
Uninvited guests make violent threats

Mark Gould and Bill O'Connor | managing editors
mgould@smcvt.edu
woconnor@smcvt.edu

An early Sunday morning altercation between two Burlington men and residents of the 300s townhouses led to Colchester Police issuing a trespass notice to the two unwanted visitors. The conflict began when one of the men allegedly groped a female friend of senior and Echo executive editor Justin Veiga.

Pete Soons, director of St. Michael’s safety and security identified the two as Joel Cione and Joseph Provost, both 19. Cione and Provost entered St. Michael’s campus uninvited, according to Colchester Police Lt. Douglas Allen. Senior Matt D’Andraia says the two attempted to enter a party in the 300s townhouses.

“We said no, and they wouldn’t go away,” D’Andraia says. “Then all of a sudden, Justin [Veiga] is saying that they touched [his friend inappropiately]."

Veiga then positioned himself between the female and the man and began pushing him away from her, off of the sidewalk, D’Andraia says. It is the policy of the Echo not to disclose the identity of alleged victims of sexual assault.

Senior and townhouse 334 resident Kevin Shaw says he and several neighbors rushed out of the party. The group insisted Cione and Provost leave, he says. At that point, Cione and Provost made a series of violent threats, D’Andraia says.

“One of the kids walked over to me and got into my face, saying things like ‘I’ll snap your necks open’ and ‘I’ll slit your neck,’” he says.

The two uninvited guests then ripped their shirts off, attempting to taunt the growing crowd of neighbors into a fight, D’Andraia says.

Both D’Andraia and Shaw say the Burlington men might have been under the influence of drugs because of their crazed behavior.

“They were punching themselves in the face," Shaw says. "One kid had, literally, a quartz rock the size of a golf ball in his mouth, trying to break it with his teeth. I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life. Never.”

A breathalyzer was eventually administered, but the reading was “not very high,” Soons says.

The situation intensified when one of the two Burlington men began motioning to suggest he had a firearm under his shirt, Shaw says.

“One of the kids said he had a gun, and that he was packing heat, so that kind of freaked us all out,” he says.

Security logs indicate a call came from townhouse 336 at 12:48 a.m. Within the minute, security was on site. Colchester police was called at 12:57 a.m., and two officers arrived on the scene at 12:59 a.m. according to police logs.

One Colchester police officer left the scene at 1:04 a.m., leaving the other officer to handle the situation, police logs indicate. According to St. Michael’s security logs, four security guards dealt with the situation.

While security was talking to the two Burlington men, one snuck away across the field towards Tarrant, but was followed and stopped by one security officer, D’Andraia says.

After learning that there was a gun threat, security attempted to cuff one man to conduct a search, but he took off running across the field. The security guards gave chase, Shaw says.

“I didn’t think they were going to catch him, so I took off after him,” he says. “When I was about at the road I saw another security guard come out of nowhere, he had caught up to me, and he kind of hit the kid’s feet and I just dove and tackled the kid.”

Shaw then drove his elbow into the man's back to keep him from moving as security approached, he says.

At first the officer was unsure who Shaw was and pushed him off of the now grounded man. Shaw identified himself as a student and was later thanked for his assistance by security, he says.

During the commotion the other 19-year-old ran and was not caught, though he was later identified, Allen says.

The remaining Burlington man was detained by campus security and Colchester police until he could be identified. He was then transported to an off-campus residence, Allen says.

Campus security logs indicate the security officer in charge left the scene at 1:17 a.m.

In addition to Colchester police issuing trespassing notices, Cione and Provost have been added to a St. Michael’s College trespass list, a "fairly old list" with "probably 50 or more people" on it, Soons says.

Should Cione or Provost return to campus within the next six months, they would face maximum penalties of three months imprisonment or $500 in fines, or both.

Soons says uninvited guests pose a growing problem.

"We are becoming increasingly concerned with the conduct of people that are non-students," he says.