STUDENT: AMNESTY GUIDELINE VIOLATED

Freshman Says She Was Cited For Drinking Despite Seeking Help

A student has alleged that the University Police violated Penn's
medical amnesty policy when issuing her an underage-drinking
citation during Spring Fling.

College freshman Anna Moriarty said police cited her with underage
drinking and disorderly conduct after she told Ware College House
officials that she required medical attention for a head injury in
the early morning of April 8.

Penn's medical amnesty policy states that students will not be
punished for seeking medical attention for alcohol and drug
overdose, and Division of Public Safety officials say they extend
the policy to students with other injuries as well.

They added, however, that the policy can be waived if a student is
"physically abusive to the first responders assisting them."

Public Safety officials would not provide further comment by press time.

After consuming the equivalent of three alcoholic drinks, Moriarty
said, she tried to jump on a friend's back but fell on pavement
inside of the Quadrangle, suffering a cut above her right eye.

Moriarty said that after her friends informed house officials that
she needed medical attention, a police officer entered her Ware
College House room and asked for her PennCard.

She said the officer then asked if she had been drinking. After the
officer assured Moriarty that she would not face punishment,
Moriarty said she admitted to consuming alcohol.

"I just assumed she was a medical official," she said. "I thought,
'Maybe they need to know for medical reasons.'"

Moriarty said the officer's badge was not visible and that the
officer failed to identify herself.

Following her admission of drinking, Moriarity said the officer
informed her that underage drinking is illegal and began to ask
questions in what she described as a "very accusatory" manner.

Believing that she was about to be cited for drinking in spite of
her injury and although she cooperated, Moriarty said, she then
grabbed her PennCard from the officer's hand and ran out of the
room, where she said about 10 security and police officials were standing.

Moriarty said that one of the officers grabbed her and she began to
yell and attempt to break free.

An officer then handcuffed her, she said, and she was transported to
the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and treated for the
injury. She was released later that morning.

"If she really had head injuries, they really shouldn't have been
worried about her drinking," said College freshman Amy Murphy, who
was in the room at the time. "It just wasted time and effort."

According to the University Alcohol and Drug Policy, "No student
seeking medical treatment for an alcohol or other drug-related
overdose will be subject to University discipline for the sole
violation of using or possessing alcohol or drugs."

Murphy said that, while Moriarty did act inappropriately, she felt
that the situation was still handled poorly.

Moriarty "really overreacted, but she did have a good reason to," Murphy said.

The medical amnesty clause "is really well-known and [the student]
had that in mind and expected it to come into play," she added.

Moriarty said what she sees as the violation of the policy was
unreasonable. She pled not guilty to the citations at a hearing last
Wednesday. Another hearing is scheduled for June 16.

"I just don't like that the one time I would need the medical
amnesty, it wasn't there," she said.