by Joseph Paquette, Contributing Writer
According to merriam-webster.com, a prank “is a mildly mischievous act”. The key word here is “mildly”. What could possibly go wrong by committing a little prank? Well as two of our very own freshmen found out, what may sound like fun could land you in jail.
On September 4th Tyler Slaveski and Ryan Tannenbaum decided to spray Pledge brand furniture polish on the tile floor of the entrance to Marmion-Snyder residence hall. According to Campus Security and Safety, the two 18 year-olds were not targeting anyone specific. The two just wanted to see what would happen to the first person walking through the entrance. Well unfortunately, the first person through the doors was young woman walking with crutches. Not having a full range of motion, she fell to the ground landing on her back and hitting her head on the tile floor.
The girl gets transported to the Emergency Room. Slaveski and Tannenbaum end up in the back of a Pasco County Sheriff’s vehicle on their way to county lockup. According to the website florida.arrests.org, the two young men were charged with “Culpable Negligence Inflict Harm” which falls under Section 784.05 of the Florida Statutes. They were also held on a $150 bond according to the same website.
Tannenbaum, while willing to talk about the incident, declined to comment at this time based on advice from counsel.
“Both guys were very apologetic and didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” said Sergeant D’Ambrosio of Campus Security and Safety.
When asked for a comment, Sean VanGuilder, Director of Residence Life, declined to comment citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for privacy reasons.
This incident has had its own little media explosion. It has been mentioned in the online news sections of papers in Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. It has even been a story in the online news of a paper out of the United Kingdom. It has even been all over Twitter and Facebook as well. It may be getting a little out of hand.
Was this an intentional malicious act? It is hard to judge what was in the minds of the two students. Was it a juvenile prank that got out of hand? Indeed it was just that. Is that to say that nothing should happen to the perpetrators of this “prank”? There needs to be consequences for their actions, whatever they may be.
The parents of our students, and the students themselves, have the right to expect safety while residing on campus. With all the deaths and accidents in the news when it comes to other “pranks”, i.e. hazing, these types of issues need to be nipped in the bud. The punishment needs to fit the crime, but no one should be singled out or made an example.
