Content Warning: This article contains references to suicide and domestic violence
Harassing communications at Goizueta
On Feb. 15, a Goizueta Business School student reported to the Emory Police Department (EPD) that someone she had dated several years ago began communicating with her on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, after not speaking since 2018, according to EPD Records Manager Ed Shoemaker (87G, 90G). The former boyfriend is not affiliated with Emory University.
Shoemaker added that the man sent the student a text asking how she was doing. The student found her former boyfriend’s communications to be “disconcerting” because she said he has a violent past, so she feared he might show up to campus and act violently, Shoemaker said.
The case is active as EPD is still looking into the report.
“We’re trying to figure out what his situation is and try to scope out what his intentions might be, if any, and then we’ll go from there,” Shoemaker said.
Criminal trespass, property damage at Briarcliff campus
Shortly after midnight on Feb. 15, an incident occured involving criminal trespassing and property damage at the Briarcliff campus entrance, Shoemaker said.
Most of Briarcliff is the old Georgia Mental Health Institution. Emory bought the property in 1998,, with the main building being used for media-related purposes, like filming. The old Candler Mansion is also on Briarcliff, as well as a new facility in the back of the property that stores overflow items for the Emory and Georgia Institute of Technology libraries.
There is an access control gate at the front Briarcliff because the property is not open to the public outside of business hours. However, Shoemaker said that on Feb. 15, a member of a filming crew arrived at Briarcliff, but did not know how to get through the gate arm.
“They got out of the vehicle and benched the gate arm out of the way,” Shoemaker said. “Then they told somebody about it so that we got notified that the gate arm had been broken and also that the film crew was bragging about having done something to the arm.”
EPD quickly tracked down who the driver was and what took place, Shoemaker added. The driver accepted responsibility for having gone through the gate. As of Feb. 18, the University has decided that they’ll accept restitution for the property damage and to replace the gate arm in lieu of prosecuting the driver for the crime, Shoemaker said.
“To put the crime in perspective, criminal trespass can be committed two ways in Georgia,” Shoemaker said. “One is if I show up on your property and you tell me to leave and I won’t leave, which is what everybody understands as trespass. The other is property damage in the amount of less than $500 to somebody else’s property.”
This case is “exceptionally cleared,” which means law enforcement has probable cause to know who committed the crime, where to find the person and to get a warrant for their arrest. Shoemaker explained that despite this information, EPD decided “for some non-law enforcement reason” to not go through with the prosecution.
In this case, the non-law enforcement reason is because Emory decided they did not want to proceed with prosecution, Shoemaker said.
Courtesy of Emory University
Stalking
On Feb. 10, EPD received a report that a graduate student was being stalked. While EPD does not know much about the case because it was an anonymous report, Shoemaker said that EPD does know that a graduate student contacted the Title IX office and indicated that they were being stalked by another student.
“We have no details except that both parties involved are Emory students,” Shoemaker said, although it is unclear whether the other person is an undergraduate or graduate student.
He added that EPD is obligated to report such cases, there is little EPD can do to investigate when the report is anonymous.
Aggravated assault, battery, dating violence, theft by taking, giving false name, interference with 911 call
On Feb. 9 at about 10:20 p.m., EPD received a call reporting a fight that broke out between two parties in Building G of the Clairmont Residential Center. Shoemaker said that the two parties were dating, one partner being a Building G resident and the other partner not being affiliated with the University.
The reporting student said the dispute started as a verbal argument in their apartment. It then escalated to the non-Emory student poking the Emory student and slapping them, trying to provoke a reaction or a fight, Shoemaker said. The Emory student subsequently tried to call the police for help, prompting the offender to choke the Emory student in an effort to prevent them from making the call. Shoemaker said the offender’s effort was temporarily successful.
The Emory student managed to disengage from the altercation and ran out the apartment. The offender ran after the student, then stopped and returned to the apartment to take the student’s laptop and Xbox, the ownership of which EPD is not certain about, Shoemaker added. The offender also tried to steal a puppy they had gifted to the Emory student during their relationship.
“The student had the puppy and the offender said, ‘Give me the puppy or I’m taking the laptop,’” Shoemaker said. “The student kept the puppy. The offender took the laptop and left.”
EPD located the offender on foot on Clairmont Road, headed in the direction of Athens Pizza. Shoemaker said that EPD stopped the offender and asked for their name, but they provided a false name. The sergeant on the scene then asked the offender for the laptop and the offender took the device out of their backpack, which Shoemaker said “is fairly incriminating.”
EPD took the offender into custody and charged them on numerous accounts, according to Shoemaker. These charges include interfering with a call for emergency services, giving a false name and date of birth to law enforcement and theft by taking, all of which are misdemeanors. The offender was also charged with battery, which is the act of assaulting someone and leaving physical, visible injury, and aggravated assault. Under Georgia law, choking someone, regardless of circumstance, is a form of aggravated assault, Shoemaker said.
“That dust is still settling,” Shoemaker said. “The case is being assembled for production and/or defense.”
Public indecency
At 5:42 a.m. on Feb. 8, a woman was driving to work and stopped at a red light at the intersection of Clifton Road and Haygood Avenue. According to Shoemaker, a vehicle pulled up next to her and honked at her. She looked over to find a white male with short hair “with his trousers down starting to masturbate,” Shoemaker said.
The woman described the vehicle as a 1990s era gold or tan Toyota Corolla or Camry.
“We are keeping our eyes open for this guy,” Shoemaker said.
The 1990s version of the car might be helpful to EPD, Shoemaker added, because the model is old enough where there should not be too many still out on the road.
Burglary, false imprisonment, simple battery, dating violence
On Feb. 8 at the Black Student Alliance (BSA) House, which is located at 22 Eagle Row, a female student who does not reside in the BSA House was visiting two friends. The female student brought her cat, which is associated with a recently discontinued relationship with a male not from Emory, Shoemaker said.
While at the BSA House, the male in question showed up to get the cat back. EPD does not know how the male, who the students said was acting aggressively, got into the house, Shoemaker said. The male and the three students got into a physical altercation, with one of the students trying to restrain the male from taking the cat. The male then held her down, which Shoemaker said is false imprisonment. The other two students subsequently tried to get the male off of their friend but he pushed them out of the way, which is simple battery, Shoemaker added.
“Ultimately, he manages to get the cat and run out of the room with the cat and reportedly leaves the area in a white Jeep Cherokee,” Shoemake said. “The burglary implied in that is that Georgia defined burglary as an unlawful entry into a premises with the intent to commit a theft or a felony.”
EPD is not considering taking the cat as theft because there is ambiguity in who the cat belongs to, Shoemaker explained. However, false imprisonment is a felony, so his entry into the BSA House is considered a burglary.
This case is still active, Shoemaker said.
Possession and use of drug-related objects
On Feb. 6 shortly after midnight, an EPD officer was sent to check the blue light phone at the corner of Clifton Road and Haygood Drive near the Emory Rehabilitation Hospital. A man using the blue light phone said he was getting ready to kill himself by laying in the middle of Clifton Road, Shoemaker said.
When EPD got to the scene, the man, who was still near the phone, said he was recently discharged from the hospital and was feeling suicidal. According to Shoemaker, the officer asked, “Do you have a plan?” The man responded that he had a few plans, the most immediate one being laying in the middle of Clifton Road and getting run over, which the EPD officer persuaded him not to do.
EPD then asked the man if he had any weapons on him, to which he said he did not. Shoemaker said that the EPD officer still asked to search the man to confirm he did not have weapons, and the man consented.
“We didn’t locate any weapon, but we did locate a glass pipe with burnt brown residue consistent with the consumption of drugs,” Shoemaker said.
EPD asked the man if he had taken any drugs, and the man replied that he had taken cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription medications over the past four days.
At about 1 a.m., emergency medical services arrived at the scene to examine the man and transport him to the hospital for treatment. EPD confiscated the glass pipe and the drug residue, which Shoemaker suspects EPD will destroy.
Shoemaker added that EPD does not intend to prosecute the man due to his circumstances and the case has been closed.
“We decided on this one I think fairly quickly,” Shoemaker said. “The stakes in prosecuting it are pretty low to begin with, and it’s more important for this guy to get significant, serious treatment rather than for us to come around and put him in jail and get him fined a couple hundred dollars.”
Emory’s Counseling and Psychological services can be found here. Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence can be found here. Georgia’s Statewide hotline can be found at +1 (800)-334-2836 or here. The Safe Families Office can be found here. If you are having thoughts of suicide at Emory University call Student Intervention Services at 404-430-1120. Emory’s Counseling and Psychological services can be found here. If you are outside of Emory, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and access more information here. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Georgia Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be found here or at (800)-273-TALK.
If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide and are at Emory University, call Student Intervention Services at 404-430-1120. Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services can be found here.
If you are outside of Emory, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and access more information here. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Georgia Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be found here or at (800)-273-TALK.
Editor-in-Chief | Matthew Chupack (he/him, 24C) is from Northbrook, Illinois, majoring in sociology & religion and minoring in community building & social change on a pre-law track. Outside of the Wheel, Chupack serves on the Emory College Honor Council, is vice president of Behind the Glass: Immigration Reflections, Treasurer of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society and an RA in Dobbs Hall. In his free time, he enjoys trying new restaurants around Atlanta, catching up on pop culture news and listening to country music.
