Brown and White Vol. 133 no. 5

              The Brown and White Vol. 133 No. 5
Friday, September 22, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Police address rumors about off-campus citations
Bethlehem land deal Laf. student death
By JAKE EPSTEIN
Assistant News Editor
A private parking lot at the cor-ner
of Polk Street and East Third
Street might see a flip in ownership
pending a deal between Bethlehem
Parking Authority and the Sands
Casino, which are the current own-ers
of the lot.
A memorandum from James
Broughal, a solicitor for the
Bethlehem Parking Authority, to
Mayor Robert Donchez on Sept. 1
announced a formal request for the
lot to be purchased by the author-ity
from the Sands for about $2
million. This request is based on
a Real Property Appraisal Report
from June 2017, which determined
the market value of the of the land
to be $1,960,000.
Lack of compliance over price
negotiation from both sides could
By KLAUDIA JAZWINSKA &
REBECCA WILKIN
Managing Editors
Lafayette student McCrae Williams
died two days after drunkenly sus-taining
a head injury, Northampton
County District Attorney John
Morganelli revealed in a press con-ference
Tuesday.
The Morning Call published foot-age
from a conference in which
Morganelli shared details about the
“chain of events” between Sept. 15
and Sept. 19 that led to Williams’
death, based on information obtained
from an investigation at the college.
Twelve or 13 students related to the
incident were interviewed by police,
according to The Lafayette student
newspaper.
Williams reportedly attended sev-eral
parties with friends from the
See SANDS Page 4 men’s and women’s lacrosse teams on
end with Bethlehem Parking
Authority’s acquisition of the prop-erty
through eminent domain, a
method by which national, state or
local government can take property
from a private ownership if it’s to be
used for a public purpose.
“Right now, we’re hoping to build
a garage on the lot with over 585
spaces as a way to complement eco-nomic
and residential growth in
the area,” said Kevin Livingston,
executive director of the Bethlehem
Parking Authority.
The 1.62-acre lot is now used by
Northampton Community College
and The Charter School for the Arts
for extra parking spaces.
“The main anchor tenant of the
new garage will be Northampton
Community College, and the
remaining spots will be for current
See MCRAE Page 4
Friday night and Saturday afternoon,
where he consumed alcohol.
“The investigation tells us we
know that Mr. Williams was fine
on Saturday morning, in that he
received a call from a number of
friends,” Morganelli said.
Text messages retrieved by police
revealed Williams was “active and
OK” Saturday afternoon.
Around 1:30 p.m. he went to a
“day drink” party at an off-campus
house, where witnesses reported he
appeared to be moderately intoxicat-ed
but otherwise OK.
“Based on numerous interviews
of students, we have no evidence
that there was any type of hazing
that was occurring as a result of his
membership on the lacrosse team or
just being a freshman college student
at Lafayette,” Morganelli said. “No
Sands Casino to sell parking lot Authorities release more details
Mudassir Kadri/B&W Staff
A police vehicle is parked outside of the Lehigh University Police Department station Wednesday. LUPD Chief Edward Shupp dispelled rumors that have been circulating around campus.
By EMILY WARD &
KLAUDIA JAZWINSKA
Editor in Chief & Managing Editor
Play.
A longtime Bethlehem resident is
trying to put her children to bed.
A party has been raging next door
for 15 hours, since 10 a.m. Her win-dow
and door screen are broken and
someone urinated on her front porch.
Exasperated from yelling out her
window, she calls the police.
Play. Fast forward. Pause.
A group of students are huddled
around their unconscious friend, wor-ried
looks in their eyes. They assure
an officer they tried giving him water
to sober him up. The officer attempts
to do a sternum rub and give him
oxygen.
Play. Fast forward. Pause.
An officer attempts to wake a stu-dent
who has passed out after con-suming
alcohol. Despite the flashlight
in his face and his friends calling his
name, the student doesn’t flinch.
Pause.
This is real body camera footage
taken by Lehigh University police
officers who patrol the community
during the night shift. Lehigh Police
Chief Edward Shupp showed the
clips to students who came to him
with concerns about increased police
presence on and off campus.
“We’re not here to ruin anybody’s
good time, we’re here to make sure
that everybody’s safe,” Shupp said. “I
certainly don’t want anybody to get
seriously hurt or die here. I’ve seen
enough of it.”
On Sept. 2, 59 people were arrest-ed
at a Phi Kappa Theta fraternity
party off campus. Of the 59 citations,
56 were Lehigh students and 35
were first-year students. According
to Bethlehem Police Department
records, most students were charged
with possession or consumption of
alcohol. The homeowners were
charged with disorderly house, and
one member of Phi Kappa Theta was
charged with furnishing alcohol to
minors.
In his police report about the
Sept. 2 incident, BPD officer John F.
Limpar said he was patrolling in an
“unmarked unit” when two sergeants
notified him of a “large loud party” at
216 and 218 East Fifth St. According
to the report, people had been spotted
on the roof of one of the houses.
One eyewitness at the party, who
is in the process of getting her cita-tion
expunged and prefers to remain
anonymous, said Bethlehem police
arrived at 218 East Fifth and asked
all party-goers for their IDs.
She admitted to having several
drinks earlier in the night, but she
remembers — and her account was
corroborated by multiple witnesses
— BPD officers asked everyone who
was under 21 to wait in a separate
room. Since she fits that description,
she waited as all of-age students were
allowed to leave the house. Everyone
under 21 stood silently for hours
while they waited to be breathalyzed.
She said she got to the front of the
See LUPD Page 3