WATERVILLE -- On April 12, Colby College security officers acted appropriately when they tried to prevent two agitated students from interfering with the medical assessment of another student.

Yet, the length of time that one student was restrained on the floor was too long and at least one security officer used "unprovoked and improper force" while attempting to get other student witnesses to leave.

Those are among the key findings of an internal investigation released Tuesday evening by Colby College.

The 29-page report was written by independent consultant Ralph Martin II, managing partner of the Boston office of Bingham McCutchen and principal of the Bingham Consulting Group. Martin was brought in by the college to interview witnesses of the controversial incident and issue findings and recommendations.

"It is impossible to review the chain of events without finding that virtually everyone involved could have conducted themselves better," his report says.

Colby President William D. Adams, in an e-mail sent to the Colby College community Tuesday evening after the report was posted on the college's Web site, summarized the report's findings and said that the document "was delivered in final form today, so the college has not yet fully evaluated it nor devised a specific plan for responding to its findings and recommendations."

"I am grateful," Adams said in the e-mail, "to Mr. Martin for his thorough and meticulous work and for providing the college with both an unbiased review of events and with recommendations for policy changes we should consider as we move forward."

The incident happened during the wee hours of Easter morning. Following a dance on campus, police arrested students Ozzy Ramirez, 22, and Jacob Roundtree, 21, after the two allegedly tried to interfere with the medical assessment of a fellow student in the college's student center. Criminal charges against Ramirez and Roundtree have not yet been filed.

Ramirez and Roundtree were restrained by campus security officers in front of several students, two of whom made video recordings of parts of the incident.

Responding to the scene were officers from Waterville, Fairfield, Winslow and Oakland, as well as Maine State Police troopers and deputies from Kennebec County Sheriff's Office.

Martin's report details the events that led to the encounter inside the Pugh Center, in which a security officer first encountered a student sleeping on a couch in the Students Organized for Black and Hispanic Unity, or SOBHU, room, and called a Colby Emergency Response student. The report does not name any students or security officers.

The report says "there was sufficient reason to believe that (the sleeping student) needed to be screened by the Health Center in connection with the consumption of alcohol." When Ramirez entered the scene, asking what the responders were doing with his friend, security officers "acted responsibly in trying to keep him from interfering" and their takedown of Ramirez "was understandable." Ramirez, "however well-intended, behaved in a way that required the security officers to escort or force him from the room," the report states.

Later, the restraint of Roundtree was likewise reasonable, the report says.

But Ramirez was pinned on the floor for about 20 minutes, "beyond what was necessary to enable security and (the student emergency responder) to administer to his friend."

While the restraint was initially justified, the report is critical of the way in which security officers handled the remainder of the situation. The director of security and dean "on call" should have been immediately contacted, but were not until the incident had ended, the report says.

In addition, one security officer behaved "unprofessionally and improperly and used improper force" by pushing a student down stairs and against a wall, slapping a student's identification card out of his hand, and grabbing a female student by the arm.

"The scope and extent of the restraint used by the officers," the report says, "was not the most enlightened way of dealing with the two students."

And although the image was visually jarring -- white security officers restraining two students of color -- the report finds that "race was not a basis for the security officers' actions."

Martin makes several recommendations to the college:

* Security officers should receive enhanced training in tactics to de-escalate such situations.

* The college should seek outside expertise to advise the security department on best practices.

* The college should be clearer on the responsibilities of security and Colby Emergency Response students, and provide better instructions on when security should consult with the Dean of Students office.

* The college should foster discussions so that students better understand the responsibilities of security officers and the officers are in turn better integrated "into the everyday fabric of the campus life."

Martin's report, in conclusion, quotes an unnamed faculty member on the situation: "Anytime you combine youth, race, alcohol consumption, class and use of authority, you only need one small thing to go wrong to find yourself in the midst of a much larger problem."

Download a copy of the report (91KB .pdf file.)

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253
smonroe@centralmaine.com