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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Cathy Atwell, University of Maryland

Aired April 02, 2002 - 06:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Did you watch the game last night? It was an exciting one. The University of Maryland is the new NCAA champion. They won over Indiana, 64-52. But some victory celebrations did turn ugly at the university's College Park campus last night, and joining me live by phone from Maryland is Cathy Atwell -- Major Cathy Atwell with the school's Department of Public Safety -- good morning.

CATHY ATWELL, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Tell us what happened last night.

ATWELL: Maryland won! We are so excited.

COSTELLO: I don't mean that.

ATWELL: Oh, OK.

COSTELLO: What happened after the game?

ATWELL: Lots and lots of fans were excited too, and they came from everywhere. Well, I'm not even sure of all of the places that they came. We estimate the crowd to be about 5,000 at its peak. There were well over 3,000, probably closer to 4,000 that gathered on Fraternity Row. They came in droves, lots of people, and...

COSTELLO: And we understand that some of them set fires; others looted a bicycle shop, hitting the bicycle shop owner in the head. And also a state trooper was injured. So you did have some problems.

ATWELL: We did have problems. The initial crowd that gathered was orderly and celebrated and cheered and sang. I was on the campus and can speak mostly to what happened on the campus, because that was my area of responsibility.

And so, the crowd formed on Fraternity Row, and some of the crowd started a fire. The crowd was so large and we had so many people in the city at College Park that although we had planned to put the fire out immediately, the decision was made not to move the crowd on the campus or to put the fire out until we were certain that the county police had stabilized what was going on in the city. We didn't want to move the crowd from one place to another or agitate them by moving them from place to place. COSTELLO: A lot of planning went into controlling this crowd a day before it actually happened. In fact, you had local police, state police, outfitted in riot gear, armored vehicles, helicopters and even officers mounted on horses. Was that overkill or necessary?

ATWELL: No, it was necessary. All of those people that you have described were working, and as you have described, I don't have all of the reports of what happened, but there were a few injuries. At this point, it looks like the injuries were treated on the scene. There were police vehicles. When I left the parking lot at 3:00 in the morning, there were at least three police vehicles with windshields that were smashed from bottles that had been thrown...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I also understand that police had to fire pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

ATWELL: The university police did not fire any pepper spray, but I hear from the crowd that the county police did down in the city.

COSTELLO: This massive police presence, some students say it really was the reason that caused students to get overly rowdy, just to take on the police. Do you agree with that?

ATWELL: I do not agree with that, and if you look at the tape and talk to the students, the first hour or so people, particularly the group that was on the campus -- now, this is not the case for those that emptied out of the bars and had been drinking and were down in the city -- but those that were on the campus were orderly. The bottles were broken and the damage happened as long as two hours after the game. So it seems to me that folks who hung around two and three hours after, still trying to celebrate, are the ones that we had the most difficulty with.

COSTELLO: All right, Major Atwell, thanks for joining us this morning. We are going to get more on the situation at College Park after this break. We are going to have a live shot from the College Park campus. Also coming up...

ATWELL: You're very welcome.

COSTELLO: Bye, Major.

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