Christin Evans speaking a press conference.

Campus Police Storm Black Student’s Dorm After False Report

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • September 30, 2020

A Black student at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX said campus police stormed into her dorm room with guns drawn after a group of students falsely accused her of a crime.

Christin Evans, a 17-year-old freshman student, was asleep in her dorm around 3 a.m. on Sept. 14 when she woke up to officers with guns drawn and lights shining into her eyes.

“This could have been a Breonna Taylor circumstance,” the family’s attorney, Randall Kallinen, said during a news conference on Monday.

Police were called to the dorm after Evans’ three white roommates, along with seven other girls, falsely accused Evans of threatening to stab someone with scissors, Kallinen said. The attorney says Evans was the victim of “a racist set-up” and demanded all students involved to be expelled and charged with a crime.

Campus police reviewed dorm surveillance video and confirmed that Evans didn’t do anything wrong. After two weeks, the university has not taken any action.

“Filing a false report violates the SFA Code of Conduct and potentially violates the law as well. The investigation and judicial processes take time. I want to urge everyone to withhold judgement until the conclusion of our investigation and process,” Dr. Scott Gordon, the university president said in a statement released on Twitter. “My heart goes out to the young lady who was an innocent victim in this matter,” he continues.

On Wednesday, SFA police chief John Fields said up to 11 women were involved in the incident. Three of them are Black, one is Hispanic, and the others are white. Fields believes the incident was not racially motivated.

Fields said officers responded to the incident as if a student’s life was in danger. Body camera footage confirms the officers knocked on the dorm door four times but no one answered, he said. A suitemate let officers into the room.

Fields said once the investigation is complete, the findings will be turned over to the district attorney to determine if any criminal charges will be filed.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning and Campus Security and Life Safety. She can be reached at [email protected]

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