From The Helmsman

Tased and Confused

Man arrested for Taser attack on campus

By: Beth Spencer

Posted: 4/16/09

After a student was Tased on campus Tuesday morning, campus police officers arrested Danny Lewis Patterson a day later at 3:16 a.m. at the intersection of Veterans Avenue and State Street. Patterson was charged yesterday evening.

J. Taylor, a campus police officer, was patrolling on his T3 electric chariot near Rawls Hall when he spotted what he said was a suspicious person lurking in an area where several cars had been broken into. Patterson began walking away when the officer approached him, but he was stopped and questioned.

Patterson was arrested for trespassing after giving conflicting answers to University of Memphis police officers.

“(Police Services) were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” said Bruce Harber, director of Police Services. “They were out looking for him.”

Patterson was wearing the same black wool hat, gloves and jacket with a Coca-Cola logo victim Othman Djuliarso said his attacker was wearing when he assaulted and robbed the Djuliarso, music major. When searched, police found a Thunderbolt Blaster Taser, a knife, three screwdrivers commonly used for prying, a flashlight, sunglasses and a Bluetooth cell phone device on Patterson.

He told police he is a student at Crichton College, although college officials couldn’t be reached to verify his claims.

Harber said Police Services has no evidence thatPatterson has any prior records at this time.

Patterson is said to have attacked Djuliarso outside the University Bookstore around 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Djuliarso was leaving the Communication and Fine Arts Building after practicing percussion for a jazz combos concert.

He said he practices that late about four times each week, but since the attack, he will pack up and leave before midnight.

Djuliarso said he became incapacitated and confused when Patterson began shocking him with the stun gun.

“I didn’t know it was coming,” he said. “It definitely came from behind me.”

Djuliarso said he saw a golf cart and screamed for it as he was being attacked. Harber said the driver didn’t see or hear the assault and credited the passing cart with scaring away Patterson.

Djuliarso said he has felt safer since the arrest was made, but was disappointed campus police didn’t notice he was being attacked.

Although Patterson is in custody, some students, like Holly Osborne, said they still feel uneasy walking alone on campus at night.

“I always walk with a boy,” she said. “I tried to use Tiger Patrol once, but I didn’t get a response. The cops that patrol campus seem to be more helpful. They’ve escorted me to my car more than once.”

Attacks like this one can probably be avoided if students traveled in groups, Harber said.

“Incidents like these are rare but are preventable if you don’t walk across campus alone,” he said.

Morgan Davis, a sophomore psychology major, said the recent stun gun attack was not a wakeup call, since she lived in Richardson Towers when a student was kidnapped in 2008.

“I don’t walk around by myself at night,” she said.

Davis said she was aware of the crime rate in Memphis when she moved from Nashville.

Blake Young, senior management information system major and Memphis native, said he has accepted that the city a dangerous place to live.

“This kind of stuff happens all the time,” he said. “It’s a part of living in Memphis. It’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way it is. You just have to try not to do anything stupid, like walking late at night by yourself.”