By Hannah Gray
Sprinting down streets and alleyways, hopping fences and dodging cars escalated into a spoiled night for some UP students. However, it could have been much worse - The students could have been arrested or even shot.
Students, who were playing a game called "fugitive" on Sept. 26, were caught in a highly sensitive situation involving a man and a gun, according to Harold Burke-Sivers, Public Safety director.
Fugitive is a game that occurs at night in which one group of students, who are on foot, tries to get from point A to point B without being captured by another group of students, who are in cars. The students in the car are supposed to jump out and capture the fugitives. The fugitives then proceed to join the people in the car, according to UrbanDictionary.com, a Web site that allows users to write their own definitions of contemporary terms and trends.
Burke-Sivers' first clue that something was wrong came in a phone call.
"I just got a call, and a neighbor said that one of your students almost got shot," Burke-Sivers said.
Around midnight, a neighbor awoke to his dog barking, and he heard noise in his backyard. The neighbor grabbed a gun and loaded it. He went outside, yelled at the people, and students responded that they were playing a game called "fugitive," according to Burke-Sivers.
On the same night, a student phoned Public Safety and the Portland Police out of concern for her safety.
"I received a call from a student, a girl and her boyfriend, who were hiding in bushes because someone said they were going to kill them," Burke-Sivers said.
At the time, Burke-Sivers was surprised by the student's phone call because that sort of dangerous situation is uncommon among UP students, he said.
However, Burke-Sivers soon realized it was "all related to this fugitive game."
Two days after the incident, Burke-Sivers sent an e-mail to all UP students to address what happened, as well as, the severity of the situation.
"I am sending this e-mail to discourage UP students from participating in this activity," Burke-Sivers said in his e-mail. "I am asking all students to stop organizing and playing these action/adventure games immediately."
"I have no idea who (the students) were," Burke-Sivers said, in an interview with The Beacon. "We're not going to look for them. We're just trying to keep students safe."
The students playing "fugitive" could have committed a number of crimes, depending on how they were playing the game, according to Caroline Wong, the Multnomah County deputy district attorney assigned to North Portland.
"Criminal trespassing laws is the biggest one," Wong said.
Criminal trespassing, although a misdemeanor, would mean being arrested and taken to jail, and policy requires violators to be booked, according to the D.A.'s office.
The people on foot, the fugitives, run the risk of damaging property while trespassing, which can result in additional charges.
Another major concern is risk of imminent physical danger. The students could have easily found themselves shot by a panicked homeowner fearful for his own safety.
The fugitives "run the risk of homeowners using force," Wong said. The neighbor with the gun is an example of that sort of situation.
According to Wong, the students in the cars are also at risk. The students could break a number of traffic laws, including reckless driving or driving the wrong way on the street. This could result in physical danger for the drivers, passengers or pedestrians.
"The night heightens the risk for everything," Wong said.
Upon learning about the incident through Burke-Sivers' e-mail, students had mixed reactions.
Some students acknowledge the fun of the game and see this incident as a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence.
"Yeah it's stupid that kids were running around, but at the same time, how often is some guy going to pull a gun on a college student?" sophomore Kristian Ingebretsen said.
On the other hand, some students think the situation is frightening and serious.
"I thought it was scary at first," freshmen Jessica Colburn said in regards to reading Burke-Siver's e-mail. "I think the game is being taken too far."
The Beacon was unable to find a participant in "fugitive" games at UP who was willing to speak for this article.
"I'm surprised that a student would give an excuse of playing a game as a reason to trespass on someone's property," sophomore Ian Burns said.
