4 Southern U. band members arrested for beating ex-member

[hoosier]

Four band members arrested

Accused of forcing entry, robbing, beating freshman in Jones Hall
BY JAMES TURNER
September 09, 2005


Four members of the Southern University Marching Band were arrested Aug. 24 by East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies after a former band member accused them of robbing and beating him, said Robert Bennett, SU dean of student life.

According to an appearance bond issued by the 19th Judicial District Court, Charles Williams II, 19, of Mobile, Ala., was released on bond from the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Aug. 24 after he was arrested on a charge of simple burglary. The bond said he was released later that day.

Appearance bonds for Benjamin S. Chapelle, 19, of Beaumont, Texas; Terrell L. Dupard, 20, of Baton Rouge, and Ronnie Le Duff, 18, of Baker, said they were arrested on the charges of simple burglary in an inhabited dwelling and simple battery. They were also booked into the EBRP Prison and released on bond the same day, said the bonds.

A court date has not been scheduled for the four men and they have yet to attend a hearing before the SU Judicial Committee.

“Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office responded to Jones Hall between 9:30 and 10 p.m. after the four students allegedly forced their way into the victim’s room to rob and beat the victim,” said SU Police Department Chief Dale Flowers.

According to Bennett, assistant band director Lawrence Jackson contacted him on the night of Aug. 23 and informed Bennett that the victim had been beaten and robbed because the four students wanted to seize the victim’s band paraphernalia since he was no longer a member.

“Each year, I take it upon myself as dean of students to go and talk to the freshman band members by themselves,” Bennett said. “I let them know that in order to be a part of the Southern University Marching Band, they don’t have to take certain physical or mental abuse to be a part of the band.”

According to Bennett, this is not the first incident concerning band members and alleged derogatory behavior.

“I had a talk with freshman band members on one Sunday and I received a call that following Monday from a parent saying that her son was being hazed that (previous) Sunday night,” Bennett said. “I went over to the band room and talked to the entire upperclassmen and I told them ‘anyone caught hazing could possibly be charged in a criminal act and they’re also violating the (SU Student) Code of Conduct.’ ”

Bennett said students should know what is considered to be hazing.

“I tell them the different things considered to be hazing,” he said. “I also told them if hazing were to occur to contact me. “I gave them my cell number. I gave them my home number.

“In fact, I even talked to the parents,” Bennett said. “They were there at the same time.”

In a separate incident, the mother of a band member from Houston called and told Bennett her son was hazed, Bennett said. Bennett said the mother told him the young man was allegedly marching during practice and was punched in the chest, slapped in the back of his head and shoved around during marching practice.

“We can not tolerate this type of behavior,” Bennett said. “We’ve been very fortunate over the years that we’ve not lost anybody to death with these types of things of hazings, simple batteries or even assaults (and) I don’t intend for it to happen now.

“I’m the one that has to make a call to a parent,” he said. “That’s not a good conversation … to talk about your child.”

Band members and any other students who become defendants of hazing or other criminal charges not only have to deal with legal proceedings by the state, but they also have to answer to the university’s Code of Conduct.

“You can be faced with possibly going to jail (in which all four of those did), possibly being suspended from school and even from the band,” Bennett said.