Psychology sophomore Matthew Burger said he walked into Moody Learning Center at noon Thursday to find a male with his apparent girlfriend, as the male tried to physically assault the female.
Burger said Tuesday the female tried taking the escalator down from the second to the first floor, but the male hit her arm, grabbed her wrist, then pulled her to take the escalators up.
Burger said he told the male to quit. As Burger looked back to see if the male had listened to him, he saw him gripping hard the wrist of the girl with him, he said.
Burger said he went to the reserve desk to ask the first person he saw, Librarian Tom Bahlinger, to contact DPS. Bahlinger called immediately and was told someone had called about the assault and an officer already was on the way.
Burger then tried to find the students so he went into the men's restroom on the third floor and found two other young men snorting cocaine off the sink, he said. Burger said he returned to Bahlinger to tell him what he had seen and ask him to again contact campus police before he went to take an exam.
This time, Burger and Bahlinger gave their contact information to the officer on the line.
The police said they would take the information and take care of the problem.
About 45 minutes passed before Burger returned from his exam to speak with Bahlinger.
In the meantime, a DPS officer met the woman in McCreless to take her statement.
She told police a former boyfriend, a nonstudent, had taken her phone but had since returned it and left campus.
Burger said women should not think that they should tolerate abuse.
He said there are many lectures during the semester on subjects such as abuse, but he finds no use for them when the department of public security lets events pass.
When questioned about the incidents Monday, Sgt. Ben Peña of this college's department of public safety said, "This was the first I've heard of it. I'll look into it.
Peña confirmed Wednesday that there were police reports filed for each incident.
He said a report is always made, but depending on the situation, a person can be arrested or simply spoken to.
He said that once called, an officer tries to identify the situation or suspect. Sometimes they do not communicate with those who contacted the department.
In the case of possible narcotics in the men's restroom, Peña said an officer went to find more information but found nothing.
Burger said he saw a housekeeper going from the fourth floor to the third floor who could have cleaned it up before police arrived.
Peña said a housekeeper did call saying there was a "powdery substance" on the floor but the police department cannot tell housekeepers to leave or clean anything.
David Ortega, facilities superintendent, said Wednesday he was not notified but protocol states that housekeepers would contact campus police and then let them determine what a unknown substance might be.
He said housekeepers cannot clean anything until they are told it is OK to do so.
Ortega said they sometimes notify Roy Brown, the district's safety coordinator, about suspicious substances.
Brown said Wednesday he had no notification of any powdery substance in the men's room.
"I don't see why they didn't contact me," he said.
However, Peña said Brown was not contacted because when an officer went to the restroom, no substance was found; it is only when a substance is found that they call Brown for assistance.
"How many calls do the police need to respond to something?" Burger asked.
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