A Winthrop student was physically assaulted by a non-Winthrop affiliated stranger on Wednesday night while phone lines were down across campus, preventing students from calling the Winthrop University Police Department phone line to report the incident.
“The way I understand from IT is that it (the phone lines) appears that they went down in phases,” WUPD Chief of Police Charles Yearta said. “Last night, for we think about two or three hours, no calls came into the police department. You couldn’t call the police, it would disconnect your phone automatically.”
On Oct. 5, the R/O (Responding Officer) received a call from dispatch in reference to a complaint reported on Livesafe, a campus safety app launched by WUPD in 2014 that allows people to make anonymous tips to campus police.
The message stated that a Black male was attempting to solicit a female student at the intersection of Cherry Road and Camden Avenue.
At this time, Officer Carver and the R/O circulated the area and attempted to locate the Subject, but were unable to locate him at the time.
Officer Carver and the R/O then met with the attacked student at their dorm hall, where she stated the Subject “held her hand and would not let go of it,” according to the police blotter. The Victim said the Subject also “kissed her on the forehead and stated that he loved her.”
The Victim said the Subject referred to himself as Jerry and that he was approximately 5-foot-5, wearing a puffer jacket with a blue shirt.
During this time, phone lines within the campus were down across several departments, including the phone line that connects calls with the WUPD phone number.
“My understanding is that our lines are fixed,” Yearta said. “I believe the emergency ones are fixed. But I know there are some areas of campus that are still being affected.”
Assistant Vice President for Computing and Information Technology Patrice Bruneau said the phone line problems are being caused by the university’s two service providers, Comporium and SEGRA, experiencing troubleshooting problems.
“If the service providers are down, we can call within the campus, but we can’t call in and out of the campus, if that makes sense,” Bruneau said. “If you try to call you from your phone, that’s an external call, and it would have to go through one of our service providers.”
Bruneau said that some phone lines on campus are now working, but the issue has not been fully resolved yet. Bruneau said he does not know what the issue is.
Prior to this incident, Sgt. Geralds and the R/O met with a homeless individual by the name of Jerry Dickerson on Oct. 1 due to him appearing disoriented on campus grounds. No action was taken during this incident.
Due to the Victim’s description, he is now listed as a suspect in the assault.
UPDATE: On Oct. 6, the R/O reviewed the incident and created a photo lineup that included Dickerson, and met with the Victim at the Winthrop University Police Department building.
During this meeting, the R/O had the Victim recount the details of the incident that happened on Oct. 5.
The Victim said that while walking down Cherry Road, she was approached by a black male who grabbed her wrist and would not let go. The black male then began giving her side hugs, singing to her, and kissing her forehead.
The Victim said this continued for approximately 30 minutes, with the black male repeatedly restricting her wrist and kissing her forehead. The Victim repeatedly told the man that she had to leave, but he would not let her, saying “that’s not a good thing to say to people.”
During this period, the man grabbed her Winthrop University identification card and said that his name was “Jerry”.
The Victim was eventually noticed by a group of Winthrop students walking to McDonalds, who ushered her across the road with them in order to get free.
After hearing this from the Victim, the R/O showed a photo lineup to the victim, advising to the Victim beforehand that the individual who attacked her may or may not be in the lineup. The photo lineup contained six color pictures of black males with similar features.
Upon showing the lineup to the Victim, she almost immediately identified Dickerson as the individual who assaulted her and marked his photo with her initials and date as the identified individual.
The R/O had the Victim sign a Witness Release form before releasing her from the scene.
The R/O then amended the incident report and advised Geralds to complete an arrest warrant for Dickerson for Assault and Battery (3rd Degree).
Later that night at approximately 9:21 p.m., the R/O received a call from dispatch in reference to a black male acting strange on Alumni Drive. The Subject was described as an older black male wearing a blue hoodie that “appeared to be scruffy,” according to the police report.
While patrolling the area, the R/O was able to locate the Subject fitting the description near Cherry Road and Camden Avenue. Carver and the R/O made contact with the individual and identified him as Dickerson.
With the active warrant in hand, the R/O placed Mr. Dickerson under arrest and read him his Miranda Warnings.
The Subject was searched and placed in the patrol car, then transported to Rock Hill city jail.
During this incident, the R/O issued Dickerson an indefinite trespass notice and a copy of his warrant.
