Following the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl 21-17 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night, the Southwest Residential Area erupted in a disturbance to which nearly 100 University of Massachusetts and state police officers responded. Out of the 14 arrested, 13 of them UMass students.
“If you have 1,500 people and you charge 14 people, that’s a small number percentage-wise. We have more work to do,” said UMass Deputy Chief of Police Patrick Archbald. “There were fights, fists flying – we may not have caught them yet, but we will use all of the forensic tools available. So anyone who was down there hurting others, it would be in their best interest if they came to us before we come to them.”
The following arrests all occurred after the conclusion of the game:
Joseph R. Habackler, 18, of Salisbury, Conn., was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Shortly after a large crowd began to gather on the Southwest concourse, Habackler climbed a tree located at the south end of John Quincy Adams Tower. Shortly thereafter, the crowd began throwing beer cans, ice and rocks at him “causing a risk to himself and others, as the crowd became more tumultuous,” according to Archbald. The subject, suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, and then climbed partway down the tree before jumping off and being met by a plainclothes officer who immediately identified himself as a law official and proceeded to make the arrest.
Nicholas L. McGrath, 20, of North Reading was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and inciting a riot. McGrath was discovered on the roof of the Berkshire Dining Commons, where he was waving his arms and attempting to incite the crowd. Officers approached the dining commons where they observed the suspect from below. He was waving and yelling at the crowd in front of him, attempting to incite them, and resulting in crowd members to chant “jump.” After a few minutes McGrath lowered himself to the ground, where he was quickly arrested by plainclothes officers.
Cullen Roe, 19, of Amherst was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. At the time of his arrest a dispersal order had been announced three times via loud speaker, so Roe was charged with failure to disperse from a riot as well. He shouted at a plainclothes police officer “[expletive] the police” before beckoning and saying “bring it on.” The officer then identified himself and placed the subject under arrest.
Trevor McGlynn, 20, of Bellingham was arrested for disorderly conduct, inciting a riot and failure to disperse from a riot. Between 200-300 people gathered in Lot 50 when McGlynn separated himself from the crowd, flailing his hands in the air in an attempt to excite the crowd. He was yelling at the crowd and at police officers before he was flanked by officers in plainclothes.
James C. Maheras, 21, of Peabody was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse from a riot, mistreating or interfering with a police horse or dog and resisting a police officer making an arrest. When officers were clearing out people by Berkshire, Maheras refused to leave despite being ordered to disperse many times. He became argumentative and aggressive, advancing on a canine officer several times while taunting the dog. Another individual grabbed his arm to hold him back, but the suspect broke free and advanced again. This time another officer approached him and stated that he was being placed under arrest. Maheras then began to resist that officer and would not comply. Finally, two more officers came over to assist and placed the suspect on the ground before arresting him.
Kevin Patrick Wholey, 22, of Hull was arrested and charged with failure to disperse from a riot and disorderly conduct. At approximately 11:30 p.m., officers walking on the west side of Coolidge saw Wholey pick up and throw a rock towards a group of students and officers. He was in the process of picking up another rock before a plainclothes officer approached the suspect, identified himself and arrested him. “[It was] really not a smart thing to do. Really, you can kill someone doing that,” said Archbald. According to Archbald, there were no reported injuries during the rioting, so it is believed that the rocks did not harm anyone.
Victoria F. Preston, 19, of Malden was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and failure to disperse from a riot. On the north side of Kennedy Hall — where numerous messages of dispersal had already been delivered– officers encountered Preston. She refused to leave the area and repeatedly shouted “[expletive] you” to the officers. She also directed two raised middle fingers towards them. Others around the suspect soon became agitated and began chanting “[expletive] the police.” Two plainclothes officers then secured Preston’s arms and placed her under arrest.
Zachary A. Shuster, 21, of Holliston, Robert J. Callahan, 20 of Stoneham and John K. Slepchuk, 18, of Wilbraham were all arrested near John Quincy Adams Hall (JQA) around the same time and charged with disorderly conduct and failure to disperse from a riot. A plainclothes officer was informed by uniformed officers that one individual, Shuster, was taunting officers and beckoning the crowd to come back into Southwest near JQA. Facing a crowd of several hundred and using his hands to motion the crowd to come back resulted in Shuster’s arrest. Callahan was in the same area, standing near officers as they told him to leave and go home. He would not leave and appeared to be mocking the officers, resulting in his arrest. Slepchuk was also attempting to wave the crowd back, before turning and waving at the police, as if he wanted them to approach him. They did approach him – and then arrested him.
Barry Michael Guglielmo, 20, of Wrentham was arrested and charged with failing to disperse from a riot and inciting a riot. Guglielmo was located in the Crampton courtyard with about 100 others. He was separated from the crowd and was taunting the police. As fireworks flew from tower windows, he would stand and point his fingers in the air. He then began beckoning the crowd, causing them to roar. “[Guglielmo] continued to raise his arms to the air and acted as if the police could do nothing to him,” said Archbald. This was before a plainclothes approached him from behind and promptly arrested him. According to the officer, Guglielmo smelled of alcohol and insisted he had done nothing wrong, while proclaiming that he was “the man.”
Ciaran S. Fitzpatrick, 18, of Cambridge was arrested and charged with failing to disperse from a riot and disorderly conduct. Fitzpatrick was found in the front of a crowd, jumping and swearing, inciting the crowd and taunting the police. He threw several items into the crowd and at officers, as well as throwing a roll of toilet paper at a UMass mounted horse. At one point he began to shake a vehicle while attempting to instruct the crowd to flip it. As he was approached by officers, he ran away waving a stick in the air, yelling “[expletive] the police.” Plainclothes officers then discovered him in Lot 32 where he was attempting to instigate a crowd to flip a vehicle. He was stopped short when officers arrested him.
Two others were arrested and charged with sole counts of failing to disperse from a riot: Michael J. Guarino, 19, of Peabody and Michael N. Geoffrion, 21, of Amherst – the only non-student arrest.
ZooKeeper • Feb 9, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Class act stunt UMASS. And you wonder why this school is the butt of so many bad college jokes.
Such a disgrace as there are MANY hard working students that were NOT attending any riot stages in the usual quadrant of the school-Southwest.
i lived in Southwest for 2.5 years and met many great people. Typical group of jerks that get involved with the police and incite the mob. How stupid. Get a life-not a record. Hey, I will be graduating in June and hope to be far away.
hmm • Feb 8, 2012 at 3:10 am
Am i the only person who finds this anti-riot hysteria to be a bit blown out of proportion? Before the game there were articles, emails from admin etc etc, building it into this big thing. Then as soon as people poured out into the plaza, the police were waiting there with horses, riot gear, and a variety of weapons to confront them – WHO exactly ‘incited a riot’? Why is any gathering of students seen as a ‘riot’ – why does ‘freedom of assembly’ only exist until people actually assemble? We have only the police’s stories to go by; what about the students who were there? ‘Disorderly conduct’ can be an almost meaningless charge, applied totally at the discretion of police who can say whatever they want. There were no injuries and no property damage – why was this massive expenditure necessary? I don’t really care if a few people get a little rowdy now and then, it’s sort of only natural. I care when the school pisses our money away and abuses its power over us. They’re the ones who ought to know better.