Student involved in high speed chase expelled a second time
October 21, 1998 by The Red and Black Archives
Filed under Undefined Section
By MARK ANTHONY THOMAS
The Red & Black
A University senior has been hit twice by student judiciary.
Hit with expulsion for not completing a community service sanction and again for an East Campus night joy ride involving guns and high speeds.
Yoofi Dowell, a senior from Jonesboro, has been placed on "immediate expulsion" from the University by a student judiciary panel.
The decision came a week after Dowell was expelled for failing to complete 40 community service hours for a violation involving destruction of library materials.
In the current decision, Dowell’s night ride – where he "hitched" a ride with a convicted felon – has resulted in another expulsion decision from student judiciary.
Just after 2:30 a.m. June 24, University police arrested Dowell and Charles "Chuck" Henderson, a former University student and convicted felon, after the two allegedly fired a gun from Henderson’s car on East Campus Road.
The officers heard a series of gun shots and observed a fast driving blue Volkswagon Jetta with a man leaning out of the passenger window, according to police reports.
After the vehicle wrecked at the corner of East Campus and College Station roads, Dowell fled the scene to the intramural fields.
Dowell claims Henderson told him, "I’m gonna blame this on you, man."
Dowell later was found by police lying on the ground beside a tree and was told repeatedly to get up.
After police searched the vehicle, they found a starter pistol, .38 caliber pistol and a 4-inch butterfly knife, police reports said.
Henderson and Dowell both were arrested. Dowell was charged by student judiciary with infringing on the safety of others, failing to comply with police orders, alcohol misbehavior, knowingly violating University regulations and lack of responsibility for a guest on campus.
"You placed yourself in the situation," panelists told Dowell in the decision.
"You made the choice to drink and created a situation in which you had to rely on (Henderson) for transportation," they told Dowell.
Student judiciary also noted that Dowell had been expelled once before this month on other charges.
"It is apparent from your prior record that you have been reluctant to fulfill sanctions assigned to you by the court," panelists told Dowell.
"Taking your prior record into account, the panel is placing you on immediate expulsion from the University," they said.
