Proceedure for dealing with inter-dormitory violence questioned
Days after the Sept. 18 incident, where CU freshman Scott Hart Pyzik, 19, was arrested after assaulting his neighbors in a student dormitory, CU spokesperson Bronson Hilliard said it was the students who played the largest role in their own safety.
Pyzik had apparently ingested hallucinogenic mushrooms as he wandered the halls of CU’s Stearns East Hall, assaulting neighbors and committing felonies witnessed by a number of his fellow student residents on the sixth floor of the student housing building.
“I was there the night it happened – the whole building still talks about it,” said freshman Stephanie Lyra, an advertising and theater major. “He punched my friend, who then came downstairs to hide out in his room with me. [Pyzik] was eventually caught and taken out in a stretcher, with a bag over his head.”
Pyzik was arrested and faces charges of second-degree burglary, attempted sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and drug possession.
Hilliard stresses that this case isn’t about issues of dorm safety or security.
“Worries of entrance points for the buildings, reminding students to close doors to their dorms — these are lessons we’ve already learned from previous incidents,” Hilliard said. “It was a situation where there’s a lot of people standing around in the dorms, and here comes a guy who lives on the same dorm, same floor even.”
CU Police Spokesperson and Boulder Police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley agreed.
“It’s hard to say you should keep someone out of the building who lives there,” Wiesley said. “As far as the handling of the situation, we’re thankful for the those who stepped in to help us resolve it before it could get any further than it did.”
Hilliard is proud at how the situation was handled by the students themselves.
“What’s good news is a group of people subdued Pyzik, and held him until police arrived,” Hilliard said.
Immediately after the incident, student residential advisers acted quickly to brief the students on what happened, how to respond to future situations, and proceeded to council victims, in a response Hilliard deemed “outstanding.” Counseling resources were then made available to the victims.
Wiesley advises that students still lock their doors.
“Of course it’s something students do, to leave their doors open when they study, or see other students,” Wiesley said. “But when you’re not there, or if you’re safety is threatened? Always lock doors, for a variety of reasons — from protecting your iPod to your own personal safety.”
Hilliard offered another important detail that students should remember with incidents like this.
“It’s important for our students to know how much of a resource they are within this university,” Hilliard said. “They are, without a doubt, our most valuable partners in achieving their own safety — from helping us with information, to reporting strange or unusual activity. This case was executed well and serves as a great example of that knowledge.”
