Correction (Nov. 5, 2009 12:26 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, and earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the location of the men’s crew house where Stephen James Howard was arrested for assault. Police arrested him at 127 Mallette Street. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
A student was stabbed after refusing to let a group of men into a fraternity’s Halloween party.
Stephen James Howard, who is not a UNC student, was arrested for the assault, Chapel Hill Police Lt. Drew Smith said.
Junior Taylor Inscoe was treated at UNC Hospitals and released at about 7 a.m., said Neil Delap, president of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, of which Inscoe is a member.
The incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, after police had cleared Halloween crowds from Franklin Street.
Inscoe was monitoring PKA’s door for security. Fraternities were only letting in people they knew, Delap said.
After Inscoe refused to let in four men who showed military ID, the men climbed over the security fence, Delap said. One of them stabbed Inscoe in the thigh and then ran away, Delap said and Chapel Hill Police Lt. Chuck Quinlan confirmed.
Inscoe took a few steps out into the parking lot, where people saw he needed medical treatment, Delap said. Two fraternity brothers who were Eagle Scouts kept pressure on his wound and another called police and an ambulance, Delap said.
“Had they not stopped the bleeding so quickly, things could have gone differently,” Delap said.
Three fraternity brothers gave statements to police and to the University through Jenny Levering, assistant dean of students for fraternity and sorority life.
“We plan for a lot of things, and a stabbing is not one of them,” Delap said. “It is a problem when police push 50,000 people off Franklin Street and the first line of defense is the fraternity houses.”
Later that night, a man wandered to the men’s crew house on Mallet Street, said team member Mark Rothrock.
After more than an hour talking to members of the team, including Rothrock, the man began talking about how he stabbed a fraternity member, Rothrock said.
“He said he was trying to get some of his friends into a party at a frat house, and the guy wouldn’t let him into the party, so he stabbed him,” Rothrock said.
The man wandered into a bedroom and slept, Rothrock said.
When a girl at the crew house notified Rothrock and others of the PKA incident, they called police.
Other information about the man who was arrested was not accessible because an investigator has taken on the case, Smith said.
Interfraternity Council president Charlie Winn said Delap’s fraternity abided by all precautions outlined in a Halloween plan and that heightening security measures will be discussed in coming weeks.
“Unfortunately, there is little that he or any of the presidents can do about a drunken individual with a knife,” Winn said.
Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call Chapel Hill police at (919) 968-2760 or Carrboro-Chapel Hill-UNC Crimestoppers at (919) 942-7515.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
