"I was in my bed, and I heard someone yell 'Get out of the car!' At first I thought it was someone joking but I got up and looked out the window and there was a cop with a gun," said Katie Jones, a sophomore at Ithaca College.
Jones is a resident of Terrace One at the college. This dormitory overlooks the parking lot where the incident took place, as reporter Samantha Allen wrote earlier. The J-lot, shown in the top center of the map below, is directly between the East and West Tower dormitories and the Terraces residence halls.
While rowdiness in the parking lot is commonplace on the weekend, seeing as the area is heavily traveled by students wandering home from parties, Jones knew that this time the events were much more serious. "When I first saw it the officer had his gun pointed at a delivery car, I knew it was one because there was a triangular sign on the top," says Jones.
Instead of going back to bed however Jones decided to get out her camera. "You could see the whole thing from the window," she explained, "And I've never seen a gun be pulled on someone on campus, I had to show my friends." The video Jones took shows the officer, identified by Allen as Erik Merlin, standing over the two apprehended individuals, who are laying on the ground. The officer's voice is heard yelling, "You stole the car," at the two.
"It's like one of those things; you watch a car accident or you rubber neck. I kinda felt bad but I couldn't help it. That just doesn't happen everyday," says Jones. And in reality the incident of car theft does not happen often. According to the FBI's 2007 Uniform Crime Reports Ithaca College had no reports of motor vehicle thefts last year. Surprisingly, Cornell University reported 11. This is a sentiment echoed by Allen, who reported "that a scenario like this is very unusual."
However, despite the fact that all this took place steps from her door, Jones is not fearful. "I think they were two stupid kids who stole a car, I don't think they pose that much of a threat." Also the presence and reaction of safety officials helped to soothe Jones' mind. "I think the fact that the police handled the situation as strictly as they did speaks to how safe the school is," she said, "If something like that happens in New York City, no one's going to react that way."
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