Editor’s Note: What transpired during the Sept. 3 police raid of Haverford’s Lloyd Around the World party confused and concerned many in the bi-college community. The Bi-College News has decided to let those impacted by the raid tell their own stories with the hope of achieving a degree of collective clarity from the many individual tales of chaos.

Anonymous Male Sophomore
Cited for underage drinking and disorderly conduct
So the cops came, they were sweeping out of Lloyd by the 10s. They were shining flashlights, yelling, ‘Sit down, sit down!’ I thought it would be best if I cooperated, so I just sat down.
We were sitting down for maybe fifteen minutes or so, and I realized that they weren’t going to just let us go… They were going to give all of us citations.
It was at that point that I decided to run. Cause they weren’t really paying attention to us. I thought if I ran I could get away uncited…I made it close to the woods, by the duck pond. I realized four policemen were chasing after me. Rather than be tackled to the ground—cause I was in my bare feet at this point—I decided just to get on my stomach, put my hands on my head, and wait for them to cuff me.
They got there like two seconds later. They booked me, they had me handcuffed for maybe 40 minutes…[The cops] were making comments about how Haverford is a shitty school, cause I couldn’t run fast enough. And how I was drinking a girly purple passion mix and how that made me a girl…I just chose to run away at the wrong time. I sat down when they told me to sit down, when I could’ve walked away.

Natasha Cohen-Carroll and Hope Hart, Haverford Freshmen
Detained by police, released without citation
Hope: We came late…I heard people saying, ‘Oh look the cops!’ In the beginning, the police officers were very unprofessional. This woman was like, ‘Sit the fuck down!’ and we thought it was a joke. Because you guys have done pranks before on the freshmen.
Natasha: I got up, and that’s when she said, ‘Sit the fuck down! Sit the fuck down right now!’ We didn’t know what was going on, they wouldn’t show us their badge.
Hope: People thought I was drunk, I kept saying all these jokes and back-talking them, because I thought they were students.
Natasha: [We were breathalyzed, and] the police said to the other guy, “Nothing’s showing up."
Hope: We passed it, and they told us to go up to the room.
Natasha: The Chief Police came and said, ‘We’re doing this for respect.’ At that point I was pretty critical. They’d been disrespectful, apparently they’d been given orders to intimidate, but it was cold out, I was freezing, they wouldn’t let us call, stand up, go to the bathroom.

Anonymous Male Freshman
Cited for underage drinking
It must’ve been just past 11:00, I was in Lloyd green, and all of a sudden, this big guy with a flashlight started saying, ‘Sit down, everyone over here.’ I looked around, I noticed it was crawling with police and flashlights, and I was convinced it was a joke.
They had maybe 30 people sitting, everyone else was running or walking or escaping. They had us waiting for an hour almost. Nothing really was happening, they wouldn’t tell us what was going on, they refused to show their badges.
They started asking for people who had ID, didn’t have ID,…and slowly started giving citations to everyone…I was slightly drunk at the time. I didn’t get any rough treatment, personally. I just sat down, didn’t disobey or anything. I did see people getting handcuffed. One girl tried to stand up and leave, but they pushed her back down.
They wouldn’t let us go to the bathroom, that was my problem. Until security got there, then one of the police took me to a tree, which was nice.

Anonymous Male Sophomore
Cited for Underage Drinking
I had just gone to the bathroom in Lloyd 20s, and as I was leaving there was a guy gathering people, and he said ’sit down’. I didn’t have a glass or anything, but he asked how old I was. I said ‘I’m nineteen’, and then he asked me for my IDs and took them. Then he walked off with my ID’s to process some other people. I was told to go inside, so I did.
When I was inside, someone from Safety and Security told me to go outside as the police were looking for me, so I went outside and they processed me. I refused to take a breathalyzer. My citation states that I was seen consuming alcohol from a red solo cup, but I was never at any point drinking from one.

Gabe Stutman, Senior
Lloyd Resident
"I was hanging out with some friends and I saw flashlights and I knew something was up. We were curious so we walked over. The people holding the flashlights were being very aggressive towards these kids, some were on their knees, and I thought ‘What’s going on?’ I saw my friend and he was down on the ground and he gave me a look like ‘Shit, this is bad’. I thought it was a joke, a prank at first. I asked if I could go home and they said ‘No, just turn and walk,’ so I did until I got home."

Travis Taylor, Sophomore
Witness to police violence
Around 10:30 or so…I walked up to campus from 710 [College Avenue]. Shortly after 11:00, I saw one male student get physically tackled by a number of different people who I hadn’t seen before…I thought it was a fight, but it looked different because it was coordinated up.
 While that happened, I saw a number of other people who were older looking, like security officers, with…flashlights and I saw other people being dragged in who were obviously intoxicated.  One of those people was a female girl who looked obviously young and she was being dragged in by what looked like…an undercover officer who was wearing shorts and a blue collared shirt.  
He pulled out a police identification tag and then he put her to the ground…She tried to stand up…but more than one came to assist him and put her down…A lot of people who were students went inside to just hide out from the police.  A lot of people left.

Anonymous Bryn Mawr Sophomore
Detained by Police
I came with one of my roommates…We were indeed underage and intended to have a few drinks like the majority of other partygoers, but at this point, there was no alcohol left.
We were approached by someone claiming to be from the state Liquor Enforcement board and asked to sit down…Myself and my roommate were convinced that it was an upperclassmen prank… One of the girls, a clearly frightened Bryn Mawr freshwoman immediately began begging officers to let her use a restroom….She was extremely polite and appropriate, simply tried to impress the urgency. She volunteered freely to have an escort, gave no trouble, but officers refused to acknowledge her request.
The police officers took multiple photos of us. Two or three together shone flashlights on us so we were lit and couldn’t see them, then took pictures, saying tauntingly "say cheese"… I later saw some of the officers gathered around the camera, looking at them and laughing.
At last, after at least 45 minutes, Steve Emerson arrived, at which point we finally also realized it was 100% real. He immediately inquired about everyone’s well being, before explaining what had happened with the police tip…At this point, they began taking people to stations to receive breathalyzer tests and citations, first choosing students who appeared visibly intoxicated.
The officer who questioned me first ask what had happened. I answered that I had only been at the party for 10 minutes and had nothing to drink…He commented sarcastically to the officer giving the breathalyzer tests "Here’s another one clean as the snow", clearly disparaging and sarcastic. I took the test, blew 0.00 and was released with no apology.

Anonymous Female Haverford Freshman
Cited for Underage Drinking
We were walking in the field in front of Lloyd, and a police officer told us to sit down. Then, after an hour, they called us up individually and asked us where we live and all of that. Some people had to be breathalyzed and some weren’t, if you admitted to having consumed alcohol.
I mean, obviously we were under 21 and drinking, but unfortunately, we all felt a false sense of security that something like that couldn’t necessarily happen here. And the officers were incredibly rude and unprofessional.
We were all upset with the way we were treated, but we learned that there was nothing we could do about it. The way the officers acted was completely legal. They refused to show the girl behind me their badge; they said that they were the state police and didn’t need to. They were forcing us to the ground, yelling at us, …cursing.  
When I blew into the breathalyzer, they were yelling at me that I could’ve died. But obviously I couldn’t, it wasn’t that much.
My two options are doing the ARD or pleading guilty. I’m not sure which I’ll be doing. As far as pleading guilty, it’s a lesser fine, obviously it’s on your record until you’re 21, but after you’re 21 it can be expunged…
It was kind of arbitrary who was… I feel like I’m in a better situation, I have a family who will understand. So it’s not as much of a consequence as it could have been.

Anonymous HCA resident
Witness
They were breathalyzing people on Lloyd Green. When I asked the police officers for their badge numbers, they repeatedly cursed at me. When I asked one police woman, she said ‘I have a badge, but I also have handcuffs, would you like to see those?’

Anonymous Female Haverford Sophomore
Cited for Underage Drinking
All of a sudden, there were these people with flashlights…I didn’t see a badge and they obviously weren’t in uniform, so I was like, ‘Wait, no, I don’t want to sit down. This is stupid. Go away.’
At which point they shoved me to the ground…A lot of people were just walking away and they weren’t stopping them, so I got up and started walking away, at which point another cop…told me that I was resisting arrest and put me in handcuffs.
It was just really confusing because they didn’t tell us what we were under arrest for, they didn’t tell us who they were, they just yelled at us…They told us that lying to a police officer is a felony, which is not true. And they told me that I had to take the Breathalyzer test or I’d lose my license, which isn’t true…They were just lying to intimidate us and scare the shit out of us, which was really the only point.  

Anonymous Junior HCA Resident
Ran Away from Police
I saw people sitting in a big distorted circle. I was really confused as to why everyone was sitting down. Some people didn’t look too nervous. I went over to one of my friends and asked what he was doing – he told me to get out of there because there were cops.
So I sprinted…all the way to the INSC. I was upset because I thought that if police were ever to come here that Safety and Security would warn us first. I know it’s illegal to drink underage, but I’m worried about how this will affect parties in the future. From now on, I’m trading in my pumps for Pumas.

Anonymous Senior Male
Creator of Facebook Event
I was not aware that high-schoolers had been invited. The short description did not use the word ‘alcohol’ and did not make any reference to people being drunk. It’s unfortunate that high-schoolers were invited, but it was expected that we would have a zippity-dippity time.
As someone that was held by the police, I gave them my ID immediately, and they sat me down for at least half an hour without looking at my ID or letting me move, then they stood me up and let me go. So, one has to question the efficiency and capabilities of the state police if they can’t check your ID and send you on your way in a timely fashion.

Anonymous Senior Female
Lloyd resident
I didn’t realize what was going on. I was inside when people told me the state police were outside. There were underclassmen with us and nothing like this had ever happened in my time at Haverford, so I didn’t realize the severity of what was going on for the underage students who were dealing with the police outside.
When I woke up the next morning, I realized not only that the police officers had broken up the, in my opinion, best party of the year, but it was a strange moment where our happy paradise had been shattered.

Anonymous Bryn Mawr Sophomore
Detained by cops
My roommate and I arrived at Haverford College at 10:57 pm…We were immediately asked by a man in khaki cargo shorts and a red baseball cap, ‘Can I ask you ladies to take a seat right here?’
Two or three cops circled our group of frightened underclassmen and began snapping digital photos of our faces.  They pointed their florescent flashlights in our faces and taunted us, repeating, ‘Say Cheese!’
Two girls in the crowd were pleading to go to the bathroom, and they were ignored for twenty minutes, until a female Public Safety officer offered to take them to the restroom.  A boy behind me, from Haverford, insisted he had to urinate as well, and was ignored for another ten minutes, until one of the male officers took him to a nearby tree in the middle of the green and ordered him to urinate there, in full view of the campus.
Sometime closer to midnight…the President of Haverford College arrived…He asked if everyone was either a Bryn Mawr or Haverford student, and stood looking at us with his hand over his mouth, visibly shaken.
I was the first to get called for a breathalyzer… I know when men are looking at me provocatively.  Both men looked me up and down in this manner as I explained that I had not had a drink.
I followed instructions and blew into the device. The officer looked at my score, showed to the other man, and asked me, "Are you sure you didn’t have anything to drink tonight?"
"I’m sure," I repeated, and was shown my score of 0.0.  ‘Get outta here.  Run like a deer,’ the cop said to me.”

Michael Novinson, Senior
Handcuffed and accused of disorderly conduct, released without citation
I was snapping photos for the Bi-Co when somebody shouted, ‘Who was that?’ I identified myself and he demanded to delete the photo he said I had of his face. He deleted a photo that showed his back, then forced me to scroll through all of my pictures and demanded that I delete photos that didn’t show any officers. I refused, he threatened to arrest me, and I said, ‘Fine, arrest me,’ at which point he put me in handcuffs.
Every few minutes, new officers would come over. Sometimes, they’d yell to one another, and say that they planned to take me down to the police station and book me. Other times, an officer would come up to me and ask why I was handcuffed. When I explained, they’d tell me that I would be released in a couple of minutes and that I shouldn’t worry.
The arresting officer came back a few minutes later and demanded that I release the pen from my hands since he now classified it as a weapon. I initially refused, so he threatened to forcibly remove the pen from my hand, at which point I cooperated. Five minutes later, a different officer came over, told me to walk with him, warned me not to interfere with their investigation, and said he’d ‘cut me a deal.’

Emily Tartanella, Haverford Senior
Lloyd Resident
Being 21 and safely inside Lloyd, I wasn’t too worried when I heard the rumors flying. First, it was a prank - and not even a particularly well-executed one. Liquor Enforcement Bureau? Is that even a thing?
I was in a friend’s suite, planning to go outside and make a late trip around the world, when a girl ran into our suite, hysterical. She had been thrown to the ground, she said, harassed by a cop and apparently threatened. So when the cop turned the other way, she made a dash for our suite.
We barely knew each other, but we somehow felt bonded together in this moment of adversity. So we gave her a seat and some water, and let things settle down. When we saw a cop outside of the door, it felt like waiting out a Prohibition bust in a speakeasy- only much more Quaker.
When we finally went our separate ways, we had spent hours in a cramped dorm room, staring out the window and wondering what the hell was going on.

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