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Oregon daily
emerald
Monday. November 12, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 52
Probe underway
on alleged assault
ny June hip pen
Of thf Emerald
A former University student who
claims he was beaten and robbed two
weeks ago has hired ah attorney to in
vestigate the incident for information
supporting a lawsuit.
Eugene police found Rob Seyler. 20,
naked, beaten and unconscious in front
of a sorority house early Oct. 28. but
various officials and Seyler report they
are still uncertain of who'is responsible
for the incident.
Sgt. Chuck Tilby of the Eugene Police
Department said officers were dispatch
ed at 6:39 a.m, Sunday morning to the
vicinity of 1.1th Avenue and Hilyard
Street,* near the Alpha Phi sorority,
where they located Seyler and called an
ambulance.
According to police reports, Seyler
was naked from the waste down, with a
jacket laid over his upper body, and
there was evidence of assault, including
a lump over one eye.
Seyler has various scrapes on his arms
and face, which he said were a result of
the -incident. He said his ankle is sore,
that his nose may have been re-broken
that evening, and that there are large
scrapes elsewhere on his body. “From
the looks of my hips, 1 would say I was
drug somewhere.’’ he said.
Seyler also said that doctors told him
that he had a concussion and had a
blood-alcohol level of 0.38 percent. A
police department official said this level
is dangerously high, as a 0.4 percent
alcohol level is considered “critical"
and one beyond that could be “lethal.”
In addition. Seyler claims a doctor told
him if he had not died from blood
alcohol poisoning, he would have died
from hypothermia.
Hospital staff said they could not
release medical information pertaining
to the case.
Seylers also said his wallet, which
contained $350 in cash, had been stolen
that night and he has not seen it or the
clothing he was wearing since then.
Seyler w'as treated at the hospital and
then taken to the jail after a routine
records check showed a warrant for his
arrest, Tilby said. According to police
records, Seyler had failed to appear in
court after being arrested for possession
of stolen property. Tilby was unable to
provide the original date of arrest.
Seyler said he was released Monday
after proving to court officials that the ar
rest warrant was invalid due to a clerical
error in the case's scheduling.
The last thing Seyler said he
remembers before waking up in jail was
passing out after drinking heavily in the
basement of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity
sometime Sunday morning. He said he
and a friend had gone to the Beta house
around 10:30 p.m. the previous evening
following the fraternity’s function wdth
the Delta Delta Delta sorority, which had
ended by that time.
Seyler also said he was there as an in
vited guest and that both members and
non-members of the fraternity seemed
friendly to him throughout the evening.
"1 thought I was friends with most
everyone in that house, but 1 don’t know
anymore,” Seyler said.
But members of the fraternity, in
cluding Beta house President Blair
Thompson, said they are unfamiliar with
Seyler in general. “That’s the first time
he’d ever been here,” Thompson said in
an earlier interview.
Seyler, however, said he had gone to
the Beta house for similar gatherings on
three prior occasions and provided par
ticular names of members who he said
were his friends.
In the same interview. Thompson ad
mitted that although he left the house
before the incident occurred, various
sources had told him that Seyler had
been beaten, stripped and urinated on
before being abandoned outside the
Alpha Phi house, located behind the
fraternity, facing Hilyard Street.
Dawn Lynn Nussmeier, president of
Alpha Phi. said that no one in the house
witnessed the incident. However, police
awakened the house mother and inform
ed her.
Nussmeier also said a transient-type
person came to the house the following
Friday asking about the person he said
he'd found last weekend by their house.
She said this person claimed he had
draped a nearby coat over the person and
called the police.
Nussmeier added that she was
unaware of anyone in the house being
connected with the incident.
Earlier on, Thompson also claimed
that persons outside the house were
responsible for the episode and that he
knew of no one in the house who was in
volved in it.
“Most of the things that happened to
him (Seyler) were not caused by people
here,” he said. Thompson said that he
believes a certain group of individuals is
responsible for the incident, and said he
has not seen these people since that
night.
Since that interview. Thompson has
met with Beta members and alumni,
some of whom are attorneys, to begin a
formal investigation of the situation. As
of that meeting, held Saturday, Beta
house members have refused to com
ment on the case, although Thompson
was willing to release the above
information.
Also investigating the incident are
University officials and the Interfratemi
ty Council, but both are unable to make a
public comment at this time. According
to 1FC President Mitch Vance, there are
certain guidelines that hold each frater
nity and its members responsible for
what happens in the house.
“I’m proceeding cautiously to prevent
interference in the event of civil court
case, but am again continuing investiga
tion,” Vance said. “In our eyes its not
going to get pushed under the rug. If
something did happen, we will definite
ly take some form of action. We're in
terested in finding out the real truth and
holding people accountable for their
actions.”
Seyler’s attorney, Douglas Haldane,
said there are five possible legal theories
the case could be based upon, including
assault, outrageous conduct, intentional
infliction of emotional distress, battery
and false imprisonment. Both he and
Seyler are unable to comment further on
the case at the present, although Seyler
said the investigation is now focused on
three or four people who he believes
may be responsible. Seyler would not
say whether or not these persons are
members of the Beta fraternity.
Tilby said police are not pursuing an
investigation.
(AFJ — I He Kev. Martin Luther King Sr.,
the father of slain civil rights leader Mar
tin Luther King Jr., died Sunday at
Crawford Long Hospital. He was 84.
King was taken from his home to the
hospital on Sunday, said Bernice
Thompson, a secretary at Ebenezer Bap
tist Church, where King and his slain
son had been pastors.
The son of a Georgia sharecropper.
King’s life w'as marred by the 1968
assassination of his elder son and the
sniper slaying of his wife, Alberta, as she
played the church organ in 1974. His
other son, A.D., drowned in a backyard
swimming pool in 1969.
Christine King Farris. King’s daughter
and only surviving child, told a hospital
news conference her father was stricken
Sunday afternoon at his home and was
rushed to the hospital where “extensive
resuscitation efforts were taken.”
King died at 5:41 p.m. at the hospital.
"It appears to be some sort of heart at
tack,” said Dr. Bernard Bridges, King’s
personal physician, adding that no post
mortem examination was planned.
King had suffered from a chronic heart
condition. He was hospitalized in
Veterans gather on their day
United States war veterans were formally recognized Sunday,
Veteran’s Day, in ceremonies and services throughout the country. One
such commemoration, at Eugene’s Veteran’s Memorial Building, 1626
Willamette St., attracted several veterans including these two elderly
flag-carriers.
Photo by Tim Jones
Martin Luther King Sr.
dies at 84 of heart attack
critical condition last month when his
heart ailment was aggravated by a lung
infection.
“On behalf of the King family 1 want to
express my profound gratitude for the
love, concern, sympathy and support
and we appreciate the fervent prayers
over the last few' weeks,” Farris said.
“I'm trying to be as strong as I can, as
Daddy would want me to be,” she said
while surrounded by about 20 family
members and black leaders, including
Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and the
president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, the Rev>. Joseph
Lowery.
“Daddy King did more for this city,
the South and the nation than any of us
yet realize. Before he was famous, Mar
tin Luther King was always fighting for
people’s rights and standing up for the
little people of this community, and tell
ing people not to hate,” Young said.
Lowery praised King’s compassion
and love in the face of adversity. “I don't
know' anyone 84 who has lived a better
life.”
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