U. looks to conclude assault investigation

Police will determine whether officers acted inappropriately. Despite delays in interviewing witnesses, the Division of Public Safety hopes to conclude its investigation into events surrounding the October 30 arrest of College freshman Bill Sofield next week, Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. The investigation began after witnesses alleged that police beat Sofield while arresting him after a string of bloody assaults which injured four police officers near the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. Sofield is not accused of any of the assaults. "We have wanted to make sure the investigation is totally, totally complete," Rush said, adding that Public Safety Managing Director Tom Seamon will review all the information and determine if there was any wrongdoing by officers and students. But because officers from several police forces were in the area at the time, it may turn out that no Penn officers were involved in any wrongdoing, even if the allegations prove to be correct. In examining a recently released Philadelphia Police photograph of Sofield, taken hours after his arrest, it is impossible to tell whether he suffered any facial injuries. The photo does not show any major bruises on the student's face, however, as numerous sources alleged. But because the photo is only of his head, it is also impossible to determine whether Sofield received the bruises on his "ribs, back, wrist and elbows" that Penn men's lacrosse coach Marc Van Arsdale described in a written statement. Sofield plays for Van Arsdale on the lacrosse team. Even those bruises may not prove that Sofield was beaten; he could have been bruised when police forced him to the floor of the house to handcuff him. The freshman was arrested inside the FIJI house on Locust Walk after police confronted him, his brother Richard and Richard's friend, Warnell "Yode" Owens. At the time, University Police said the three were drunk and arguing on Locust Walk. After an officer cited Richard Sofield, a 28-year-old assistant U.S. attorney, for disorderly conduct, Owens and Bill Sofield fled into the FIJI house. Owens allegedly exited the house through a rear door and attacked four police officers in three separate incidents, before being tackled to the ground and arrested at the intersection of 36th and Walnut streets. When the back of his head hit the ground in the scuffle, he was cut and bloodied, though his recently released mug shot does not show that injury. The four officers were sent to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with various injuries, with one having to undergo facial surgery. Once Owens had been arrested, police from several forces entered the house to arrest Sofield. In statements sent to University officials, numerous FIJI brothers accused officers inside the house of beating Sofield without provocation. And although Sofield never made an official complaint against Penn or Philadelphia police officers, the University initiated an internal investigation into the incident, spending the last month interviewing students and police officers who were at the scene. The complications arose because of scheduling difficulties caused by students' exams and vacations, and the fact that detectives first had to determine which officers from which police forces were even at the scene. In the wake of the incident, one Penn officer who was inside the FIJI house said the brothers' accounts were "greatly exaggerated" and suggested they may be motivated by fears of losing their fraternity charter as a result of the incident. Sofield will appear at a court hearing next Monday for his charges. Owens, who was charged with four counts of aggravated assault, is scheduled for a December 19 hearing. Richard Sofield's disorderly conduct violation was settled after he attended a seminar on the subject.

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