Man alleges another EMU student crept into his room and inappropriately touched him
An Eastern Michigan University student could face breaking and entering and sexual assault charges after he was accused of sneaking into his friend's dorm room and engaging in unwanted sexual contact with him early Tuesday morning, EMU police said.
The man reported the incident to EMU police around 6 a.m. Tuesday, Chief Bob Heighes said. He told police he was sleeping in his Wise Residence Hall dorm room at 4:10 a.m. when his friend, another male EMU student who also lived in the dorm, entered the room.
"One of the residents was asleep in the bed and another was in the room and touched him inappropriately," Heighes said. "They live in the same dorm. They're friends."
Police were not releasing the ages of the two men. They also could not go into details about the nature of the sexual contact, though Heighes said if charges were brought, the student would likely face a count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The accused student came in and out of the other student's room frequently as a result of their friendship, police said. The door was unlocked when the man entered. A roommate was in the dorm room sleeping when the alleged incident occurred, according to police.
The man accused of the sexual assault is denying it at this point, Heighes said. The man admits he was in the room, but has said there was no inappropriate touching. Police are saying alcohol was not a factor.
Heighes said officers are still conducting interviews and investigating the matter.
"We're still trying to figure out what happened," he said.
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John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
elayem0110
Thu, Nov 8, 2012 : 3:21 a.m.
I'm also glad to see this is taken seriously. Although, I have to admit, I find it surprising that some commenters are talking about how men aren't often taken seriously in these situations. I'm seeing a lot less victim blaming than I see on articles where women are assaulted. I have seen no one question whether or not the accusation was truthful, legitimate, etc. It seems we are offering this male victim a lot more support than is typical for a female victim. An unfortunate double standard.
Ralph
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 10:23 p.m.
Fishy! How long does it take to notice this happening before you try to punch their lights out?
MIKE
Thu, Nov 8, 2012 : 4:19 a.m.
From what I understand, after 30 minutes he got up and left.
dukeravenwood
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 9:41 p.m.
Perhaps the accused was hiding in the closet and then came out of the closet to scare his friend, either way it does seem like something went wrong.
A2comments
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 8:41 p.m.
UM dorm rooms don't unlock...
John Counts
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 7:17 p.m.
Thanks, RJA. Billy, you seem to insinuate this was reported "just because we could" and that it's a private affair. I would argue that by reporting it to police, the student made it public. When an agency funded by any amount of taxpayer money is spending time and resources investigating a matter, I argue the public has a right to know about it. As I pointed out before, the charges the suspect faces are fairly serious. I would think co-students and other members of the EMU community would want to be aware of it. In my eyes, these amount to more reasons to report it than to chalk it up as something minor and worthy of dismissing.
justcurious
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 9:44 p.m.
Maybe it's time to shut this thread down like the other one John.
RJA
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 5:16 p.m.
Great job explaining John. I think the victim should have done more to get the suspect out of his room. I guess more answers will be answered later in the investigation.
smokeblwr
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 4:19 p.m.
Sexual assault is never funny.
atwomom
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 7:44 p.m.
Glad it's being taken seriously...too often, men's experiences like this are ignored or dismissed. Assault is assault, no matter what the genders of perpetrator and victim.
Robert Granville
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:42 p.m.
Sounds like a prank gone wrong.
John Counts
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:39 p.m.
Hi Billy. This was something that was reported to the EMU police. It appeared on the daily incident log here: http://www.emich.edu/publicsafety/police/crimeinformation/crimelog.php. We regularly report on all items of interest that appear there, as well as the U-M police incident summary. The charges the EMU student could possibly face -- criminal sexual conduct and breaking and entering -- are arguably sufficient to be reported on, I believe. What's going on in university dorms is of interest to the general public if serious charges are brought.
Halter
Thu, Nov 8, 2012 : 2:51 a.m.
I agree that these types of things should NOT be appearing in aa.com -- not appropriate, not something anyone outside EMU or the private lives of these boys needs to know about, wether or not it was on a police incident log.
Billy
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 4:41 p.m.
Wow...so your response is a "well technically....." response. I guess you completely missed the point I was trying to make...which is why you ran this article in the first place...
Robert Granville
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:43 p.m.
I agree. If this was a private dispute between roommates, EMU would be handling it internally.
Billy
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:29 p.m.
"They live in the same dorm. They're friends." Sigh......... Honestly....this sounds like something that's private and between those two individuals to deal with and work out.....not something the news needs to be writing a story about...
nickcarraweigh
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:25 p.m.
He's in our thoughts and prayers
DBH
Wed, Nov 7, 2012 : 3:04 p.m.
Sounds like another one of those "He said, he said" cases.