Editor’s note: Coverage of campus police reports has been delayed due to the Grand Rapids Community College Police Department now requiring The Collegiate to file a Freedom of Information Act request in order to obtain reports.
Suspicious person reported at Sneden Hall
On Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 9:14 a.m. a Grand Rapids Community College police officer was dispatched to Sneden Hall on a report of a suspicious person. Upon arriving, the officer made contact with a GRCC professor who stated she felt uneasy about a student who had just left her class.
She described the student as a Latino male and said he had been standing outside her classroom before the officer arrived. She told the officer she had filed two previous police reports about him and had also reported him to the Behavioral Intervention Team but that they had ”blown her off.” When asked by the officer why they would have ignored her she said it could be because he is subtle in his behavior telling the officer that he likes to intimidate her.
When the officer asked why he would do that the instructor said she thought it might be because she had issues with him using AI for an assignment. She stated that at one point he had brought a black bag with him to class and had pulled out a black rubber band and was flexing his fingers with it. She stated she didn’t know what this was or what else was in this bag but thought it was suspicious. She reported this to her boss who told her to document the incident and inform him that anything non-academic was not to be brought to class. She claimed she sent him the email and that he acknowledged the email. She also claimed there had been a few times early in the morning when it was still dark when she encountered him at the entrance of the building and believed that he was waiting for her. She said that he just stood there and stared straight ahead though he would say hello. The officer asked her if he had threatened her in any way and she stated he has not verbally with everything he does being non-verbal. However, she could not provide any single instance of him threatening her. The officer stated that he could not tell the student where and where not to stand but that he would ask the student to have no further contact with her. The professor said that it was the last day of classes so he shouldn’t have any reason to.
According to the police report, the officer was unable to find the man at Sneden Hall but was able to speak to him after class. The officer asked the man about the black bag which the man had with him. He showed the officer the bag which contained several items for grip strength including a black rubber band with finger holes. He stated that he was asked not to bring these items to class and had brought them up in class to show her and she stopped him from taking the items out of the bag and told him to put them away. He said he wasn’t able to explain to her what they were and further went on to note that he couldn’t understand why these things were negative as he only used them to work on his strength. The officer who had noticed him outside the classroom upon arriving to talk to the professor earlier asked him what he was doing. The man stated he wanted to ask her a question but wasn’t sure if there were still students in the class and didn’t want to interrupt and that he had only been trying to figure out what his grade was and if he needed to look for extra credit work. The officer told him that if he wanted to ask her he should email her and not call her or try to contact her in person. The officer thanked the man for his time and later emailed the professor about the meeting.
Man on rental bike collides with motorist near College Park Plaza
On Thursday, Dec. 12 at 10:30 a.m. an officer was dispatched to a man’s home to investigate a property damage accident. The man stated that on Dec. 11 at 4 p.m. he was riding a LIME rental bike along Lyon Street on the sidewalk on the south side of the road. As he approached the College Park Plaza building a vehicle pulled out in front of him, he stated that he was unable to stop in time and struck the vehicle. He ran into the right passenger’s side door of the vehicle with him specifying to the officer that as he hit his body went forward and his right hand and left leg hit the vehicle though he did not fall to the ground. The driver stopped and asked if he was okay to which the man said he was, the driver then pulled away stopping briefly before driving off. The man said a few minutes later he was feeling pain in his right wrist and decided to go to urgent care. Upon having it examined was told he had a fracture in his wrist. The man told the officer he did not get the driver’s license plate number, he described the driver as a female in her mid to late 30s with glasses and her vehicle as a small, brown SUV. The officer checked the cameras around campus however there aren’t any that cover that area.
Damage to property at Raleigh J Finkelstein Hall
On Monday, Dec. 16 at 6:50 a.m. an officer was dispatched to Raleigh J Finkelstein Hall on report of damage to property. Upon arriving the officer noticed various amounts of graffiti in black paint including on the west wall of Cook Hall, one on the west wall of RJF Hall on the building’s exterior and on a concrete base containing metal poles. Upon meeting the person who made the call he was shown another piece of graffiti, this one in yellow spray paint on a cardboard dumpster on Winchester Place. The man told the officer that he was on site the day prior until 7:45 p.m. and none of the spray paint was present and that he had already called facilities to get it removed. On Friday, Dec. 20 the officer was informed by someone at St. Mark’s Church that they had security footage of the graffiti and the woman ended up sending the officer pictures of the suspect via email. However, due to the graininess of the footage not much can be made out besides that they were white males in dark clothing.
Trespass at Park Plaza
On Monday, Dec. 16 at 7:44 a.m. officers were dispatched to College Park Plaza to investigate a report of a trespass complaint. Upon arrival they found a man lying on the lower level of the parking area, he had several cardboard boxes and blankets lying around him. The officers identified themselves as police, the man rose and stated he would leave gathering his items. He identified himself and a check in the Law Enforcement Information Network came back clean and the officers let the guy leave with a warning.
Temperature changes cause a pipe burst at RJF Building
On Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3:40 p.m. an officer received a phone call from Engineered Protection Systems, warning of a fire alarm at the RJF building, EPS further warned that the alarm was in regard to water flow in the G2 area. Upon arriving the officer made contact with members of the Grand Rapids Fire Department who advised they had already made entry and cleared. They further advised that GRCC facilities had been informed and were in the process of making repairs. They told the officer that a pipe had burst due to the temperature change in the G2 riser room. The officer contacted the associate director of facilities who requested that he silence the alarm as GRFD officers were unable to, which the officer did before he cleared the scene.
Trouble with person reported from Lyon Street
On Friday, Dec. 20 at 2:46 p.m. an officer was on patrol when the officer was contacted via phone by a GRCC professor who reported receiving inappropriate emails from a student in her online class. She told the officer that she submitted the final grades for her class on Dec. 12. She stated the student’s first email was sent on Dec. 17 at 3:43 p.m. and requested that she change his grade from an A- to an A. The professor responded by telling him that the grade would stand as is. The following 13 emails consisted of him pleading with her that he would be placed on academic suspension if the grade wasn’t changed. She received the emails between Dec. 17 at 3:43 p.m and Dec. 18 at 4:25 p.m. She stated some of the emails were the same message forwarded to her every hour and eventually every five minutes. With the subject line stating “Grade URGENT please respond” She also noted he began calling her by her first name in some of her emails which perturbed her. She also noted that he tried to contact her via LinkedIn on Dec. 18 at 2:59 p.m. and that this is where he found her personal email address which he also proceeded to email though she didn’t respond to those at all. On Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. he also managed to locate her Instagram and requested to follow her. She denied this request and blocked him. She noted she was concerned about his actions and how quickly things had escalated. She stated that she had informed her department director and was advised to contact GRCC PD for report purposes and stated she had already filed a complaint with BIT. She noted that she sent the student an email telling him to cease attempting to contact her and he did. Later the officer contacted the student via phone advising him of the documented report and requesting that he stop contacting the professor. The student appeared to be understanding and apologetic and stated that he would stop.
