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Students Facing Felony Charges After Altercation In Curtin Hall

Three Penn State students are facing charges including felonies after an altercation in Curtin Hall on Thursday, November 16. Penn State police responded to the incident around 4:43 p.m., according to the criminal complaint on the incident.

When an officer arrived at the room, no one was present inside. Instead, student Kyle Polk, who lived in the room, approached from down the hall with a visible limp, an “abrasion” on the right side of his face, and his left eye was red as if blood vessels were broken.

Polk told the officer three men arrived at his dorm room around 3:44 p.m. and demanded entry, at which point, he and his roommate, Connor Scalamongna, were afraid of what might happen and contacted friends for “back up.” It was later identified the three men were Emile Pitt, Jr. (the primary aggressor in the incident), Joseph Bird, and Ayub Farahat Sayed.

Eventually, Polk opened the door. When he refused Pitt entry, Pitt pushed his way into the room with Bird and Sayed, reportedly yelling at Polk and threatening to beat him up. When Polk refused the fight, Pitt slapped his face approximately 30 times, according to the complaint.

“I’m not going to leave until either I take all of your money or you fight me,” Pitt said before he punched Polk in the face and the body, using Snapchat to tape the interaction. During all of this, Bird took $200 from Polk’s wallet, and the trio also took a pair of Nike Paranorman sneakers from Polk.

When the group tried to leave Curtin, student Nassim Stegamat tried to block the door, but Sayed attacked and choked him, according to the criminal complaint. After giving Polk an electronic scale and saying, “There better be 14 grams of marijuana on this scale when I come back at 7:30,” the three suspects left Curtin Hall.

Through interviews with witnesses, police determined the altercation stemmed from another incident the previous day when Pitt and Bird knocked on the door pretending to be university police. The criminal complaint says it was reported Pitt is a known drug seller and was trying to “antagonize a rival.” Occupants of the room destroyed “various drug items” because they thought police were present; Polk then demanded Pitt pay for the destroyed drugs, but he refused.

Pitt physically assaulted Polk outside the Pollock Building around 11 p.m. Wednesday. It was later explained Pitt went back to Curtin Hall on Thursday “to stop Polk from saying that [Pitt] owes money.”

Penn State Police contacted Pitt, Bird, and Sayed via phone and all three turned themselves in at the police station. They waived their Miranda Rights and admitted to the Curtin Hall altercation.

Bird was charged with simple assault, harassment, burglary, criminal trespassing, robbery, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property.

Pitt was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment, burglary, criminal trespassing, robbery, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property.

Sayed was charged with simple assault, harassment, burglary, criminal trespassing, conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit a threat, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking, and conspiracy to receive stolen property.

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About the Author

Elissa Hill

Elissa was the managing editor of Onward State from 2017-2019. She is from Punxsutawney, PA [insert corny Bill Murray joke here] and considers herself an expert on all things ice cream. Follow her on Twitter (@ElissaKHill) for more corny jokes.

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