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TTUESDAY, UESDAY, OOCTOBER CTOBER 225, 5, 22016 016 > W WESTERN ESTERN KKENTUCKY ENTUCKY UUNIVERSITY NIVERSITY > VVOLUME OLUME 992, 2, IISSUE SSUE 1166
TOP - Mallory Vaughn, of Bowling Green, accepts an award from President Gary Ransdell after being named the 2016 Homecoming Queen on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Smith Stadium. Vaughn was sponsored by Chi Omega and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Abby Potter/HERALD LEFT - Senior Anna Durham cheers with her Delta Zeta sisters during the judging of the Homecoming floats before the Homecoming parade Friday, Oct. 21, on Avenue of Champions. Brendan O’Hern/HERALD RIGHT - Graduate student Jenesa Moran, center, holds a sign bearing the names of people killed during encounters with police officers while posing for a photo with Zeta Phi Beta before performing in the step show on Friday, Oct. 21, in Van Meter Hall. Brendan O’Hern/HERALD
Racial crime victims disappointed with WKUPD BY EMMA COLLINS HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU On Wednesday, Oct. 5, while Bowling Green sophomore Francisco Serrano and his girlfriend were walking outside of the Downing Student Union, a McDonald’s cup was suddenly thrown at them, according to Serrano. His girlfriend’s shoes were splattered with an unknown liquid as they both looked up to see what Serrano later described as a black Hyundai Tiburon driving past them. A passenger yelled a racial slur as the car drove away. Serrano’s experience is just one of a number of race-related crimes that have occurred on campus since school started in August. On Tuesday, Aug. 30, a racial slur was carved into Lexington senior Cheyenne Mitchell’s car. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, Louisville freshman Tarik Maddox was hit with a bottle of urine as she walked with a group of her friends to Pierce Ford Tower. During a several day period in September, Michelle Jones, an associate math professor, found several threatening notes containing racist language slipped under her door. All of the victims had two things in common: they are members of minority groups and they are all unhappy with how the WKU Police Department has handled their cases. Mitchell’s case was the first incident to make the news. On Tuesday, Aug. 30, Mitchell called the WKUPD to report her car had been vandalized with a racial slur. Someone had also keyed the driver side fender and let the air out of the front driver side tire. “It was just kind of shocking,”
Mitchell said. “It was a lot to deal with.” After her friend had an altercation with another driver in Parking Structure 1 earlier that day, Mitchell said when she returned to her car after class she saw the vandalism. “It upset me some and scared me a little bit because I didn’t know what to do,” Mitchell said in a previous College Heights Herald article. “I was in shock about it that somebody would do that to my car in broad daylight.” After calling WKUPD, Mitchell said an officer arrived at the scene, documented the crime and took pictures of her car. Since then, she said she
ing Green Police Department and received the number and the name of the man who called to report the situation with Mitchell’s friend in PS1. Casas said the WKUPD contacted the man who said he was willing to do whatever was necessary to prove he was innocent. Ultimately, the WKUPD decided the man had not vandalized Mitchell’s car. Contrary to Mitchell’s story, Casas said he had been in touch with her several times. He said he even encouraged her to take the crime report to the county attorney’s office to see if the office would want to press charges against the man. So far, Ca-
It’s kind of aggravating to know they havn’t done anything or at least if they have done anything they haven’t told me.” Lexington senior Cheyenne Mitchell has had little contact with the university police. She does not feel the police have taken much initiative with her case. She said she has received a few updates but not nearly as many as she would have liked, and she still does not know if any progress has been made. “It’s kind of aggravating to know they haven’t done anything or at least if they have done anything they haven’t told me,” Mitchell said. WKUPD Sergeant Rafael Casas said the police have done everything possible to solve Mitchell’s case. A WKUPD officer contacted the Bowl-
sas said Mitchell has yet to pick up the report. Maddox also complained about a lack of updates from the WKUPD regarding her case. On the night of Wednesday, Sept. 7, Maddox said she was walking with a group of friends from Chili’s back to PFT. As they were walking, a car drove by and threw a bottle of urine at the group. “I was just like, ‘really?’ –– on a campus where they said it’s safe,” Maddox said. “After that, I’m like ‘no it’s not.’” Maddox said she reported the incident the next day to an officer from the WKUPD. She said she felt the
officer’s response seemed insincere and she left feeling nothing would be done. “I just felt like it was another thing that I just have to go through,” Maddox said. Serrano and Jones also felt the WKUPD lacked interest in their cases at first. Jones said she went to the WKUPD several days after the incident to file a police report. The officer she met with copied the documents and took down her contact information. “When I left the police department the first time, I left there with the mindset that, ‘oh well nothing’s going to be done about this,’ and I did not like leaving there with that feeling,” Jones said. According to the incident report from Jones’s case, after the officer met with Jones he determined the notes were not “a violation of Kentucky law.” Casas said when it is determined an incident is not a crime, the officer is supposed to inform the victim no crime was committed. Jones said she was never told it did not meet the criteria for a crime. Casas said the officer initially determined the incident was not a crime because Jones did not share all the information with the officer when she went to the police department. “The initial officer didn’t do a crime report because he didn’t feel that it met the standards and the necessary requirements for the harassment or for the terroristic threatening,” Casas said. Once more information was received, Casas said the incident was determined to be a crime. He said he did not know why the officer did not
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