Collegiate Times

Accounts of the incident in which a Virginia Tech student was arrested on Sept. 22 differ between students who witnessed the arrest and the Blacksburg Police reports. Some witnesses say that excessive force was used during the arrest, while Blacksburg police officers claim they used no more force than was necessary.

Capt. Bruce Bradbery of the Blacksburg Police Department said that officers went to Ascot Lane for a noise violation call around 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 22.  While talking to the driver of a car from which the noise was coming from, the police report alleges Nathanial Lewis, 22, began yelling at the officer from the steps of a nearby building.

Bradbery said the officer told Lewis to stop yelling because he was there on account of a noise violation.  Lewis continued to yell so the officer told him he was being charged with a noise violation and to present his identification so the officer could write him a ticket.

Lewis refused to identify himself, and because of that, was taken into custody.  During the arrest, Lewis, also known as "Jaz," began to struggle and fight so "chemical was introduced (pepper spray)," Bradbery said.        

Some students who witnessed the arrest had more to add to the story when questioned at a petition of the incident held on Monday in front of the police station.  

"It was not just a pepper spraying event," Brittney Tennyson, a junior psychology major said in a recent Collegiate Times article. "It was more so an injustice and a brutal action by the police."

Tennyson participated in the protest and also helped create the Facebook group, "Justice for Jaz," which currently holds about 316 members

According to the Facebook group, Lewis was "grabbed by his locks (hair), and yanked down a few stairs onto the ground by Blacksburg police for exclaiming "free the Jena 6."

Bradbery said that there is information in the police report of what Lewis was yelling.

"(The officer) didn't go after him because of the content," said Bradbery. "It was because of the volume."

Bradbery refused to give the CT a copy of the police report. Bradbery also said that it does not say in the report whether Lewis' locks were grabbed or not.  

The Facebook group also claims that Lewis was maced again while on the ground and in handcuffs, was yelled at by the officer, and was not read his Miranda rights.

Bradbery said that Lewis was taken before magistrate and charged with obstruction of justice and a noise violation.  He said that Lewis was held without bond because he refused to participate in a bond hearing.