JIO to investigate lassoing incident

Judicial Inquiry Officer Constance Goodman will begin investigating today a weekend incident in which a male University student was accused of lassoing a female Georgetown University student. Goodman said that she knows the name of the student under investigation, but would not release it. According to University Police, the Georgetown student reported that a man had tried to lasso her with a yellow nylon rope as she walked past Phi Delt's fraternity house with her boyfriend. University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes said last night that her department responded to the call in front of Phi Delt's 3700 Locust Walk house at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night. Holmes said the officers interviewed the female student and her boyfriend, who is a Phi Delt brother. The boyfriend told the officers he thought he recognized the man with the lasso as a student. He gave police a possible name and address for the student, Holmes said. The police then visited the address given to them by the boyfriend, which was another fraternity house, and were told by residents that the student lived there but was not home at the time, Holmes said. Holmes would not release the name of the fraternity or its address. She said that later that evening, the alleged lassoer went to University Police headquarters saying he had heard police were looking for him. The student admitted to having used a lasso in front of Phi Delt's house. The student also said that he had tried to lasso only his friends but might have inadvertently lassoed a few people he didn't know. Holmes said the police referred the incident to the JIO rather than handling it as a normal criminal investigation. University Police generally do not arrest students unless the crimes are extremely serious, preferring instead to let the University handle cases before they reach the court system. Goodman said she will be contacting the student tomorrow but would not say whether the student is a member of any fraternity.

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