As Eugene Brown struggled with police officers outside Acropolis Pizza Sunday morning, crowds of onlookers gathered on Marshall Street to watch the dispute unfold. Some students questioned the tactics used by officers to subdue the 6-foot-4, 280-pound defensive tackle, who was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest, harassment and disorderly conduct.

Brown was arraigned Monday morning, where City Judge Thomas Higgins Jr. denied a request from the district attorney for him to set the student’s bail at $5,000. Higgins said bail wasn’t necessary in this case.

‘What are the odds of an SU student fleeing to Mexico?’ said Gary Sommer, the director of Student Legal Services, who will represent Brown. ‘That is not a scenario that happens.’

Sommer said it’s his understanding that Brown is suspended by the university until his legal proceedings conclude. Syracuse University spokesman Kevin Morrow could not be reached for comment Monday night, but declined comment on Brown’s specific case on Sunday.

Morrow added the university’s policy is any individual charged with a violent crime is placed on interim suspension from the university until the matter is decided within the criminal justice system.

Brown is also suspended until further notice from the SU football team, which had its first day of spring practice today.

‘It’s a setback for our football team,’ said head football coach Greg Robinson. ‘Eugene’s a part of our team. He’s one of our team members. We hate that he has to go through this.’

The next legal step for Brown is a hearing where he will plead guilty or not guilty to his charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, second-degree harassment and second-degree assault, which is a felony in New York state.

During officer’s attempts to arrest him, Brown lunged at an officer and clung on to a metal fence surrounding a tree along the sidewalk, according to a Syracuse police report. One officer dislocated his shoulder during the struggle, the report added.

‘If he hadn’t been so much of a butthole to the cops, I don’t think it would have happened,’ said Andre Littlejohn, the man involved in the initial dispute with Brown.

Littlejohn, who lives in Hampton, Va., was in town for the NCAA Tournament.

The officer’s actions caused many onlookers, though, to question whether they used too much force during the arrest.

‘(One) officer had his foot on the side of his head, like he was standing on him,’ said Mathieu Unger, a junior film major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. ‘He had blood gushing out of a wound on his head – it looked like he was throwing up out of his forehead.’

Unger, who saw the whole event, said he didn’t see Brown do anything to warrant such harsh treatment.

Other students were unsure about the officers’ safety and their decision to use ‘unnecessary force.’

‘I saw that he wasn’t cooperating,’ said Dan Bodansky, a junior television, radio and film major. ‘I’m not a fan of using excessive force, but I didn’t see what happened when (the officers) first started to handle him.’

Lt. Joe Cecile didn’t respond to the call, but he said the perception that police used excessive force is common.

‘A lot of times when you have witnesses that haven’t been exposed to any type of violent crime or fighting or an arrest in progress, what they see as excessive force was actually the appropriate force to use,’ Cecile said.

Unger said once officers put a ‘spit bag’ around Brown’s head, the crowd started yelling things like ‘he’s a human too’ and ‘get him an ambulance.’

A spit bag is a mesh hood that prevents the wearer from spitting saliva at others. It resembles a plastic bag.

‘In the context of the situation, it appeared that it almost seemed like they (put the bag on) to humiliate him rather than to protect themselves from saliva,’ Unger said. ‘To us, he seemed like the complete victim.’

Unger said officers didn’t take the crowd’s reaction seriously.

‘One guy … asked an officer for his name and badge number, and he said something obnoxious like ‘I’m not giving you shit,” Unger said.

When a reporter for The Daily Orange asked several officers for their names, they refused and covered up their nametags.

Officers are required to give their name and badge numbers if they are asked, Cecile said. The rule is a part of Syracuse Police Department codes, he said.

‘I was told by a police officer that if I stepped off the curb, I would go to jail,’ said Jonathon Huette, a freshman management major.

Another officer shone his flashlight in the face of a person who was trying to take a picture with his camera phone, Unger said.

‘Overall, what I saw was pretty sickening,’ he said.

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR MICHAEL LICKER AND STAFF WRITER SCOTT BISANG CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT

Published on March 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm