Following allegations of harassment from a female Syracuse University student, the Syracuse Police Department submitted a summons application Nov. 1 for the arrest of SU men’s basketball player Eric Devendorf, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the SPD.

The SU student alleged Devendorf, a junior starting guard on the Orange, punched her in the face, Connellan said.

Devendorf has not been arrested, Connellan said Tuesday night. The summons request was submitted Nov. 1 to the Onondaga County’s District Attorney’s Office, which has since referred the case to SU’s Judicial Affairs Office, Connellan said.

Since the alleged Nov. 1 incident, Devendorf has played in two exhibition games and two regular-season games.

‘One way or another, they determined that they were just referring the case back to the campus judicial board,’ Connellan said.

He then referred any further comment to the DA’s office.Barry Weiss, public information officer for the DA’s office, declined to provide more details Tuesday night.

Any further decision by the DA’s office will be deferred pending the outcome of the university proceedings, according to a DA news release quoted by The Post-Standard.

Kimberly Smith, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, told police she was stopped on the 900 block of Walnut Avenue around 3 a.m. when several people began yelling at her and kicking the 2007 Hyundai Elantra she was driving, Connellan said. SPD was called by SU’s Department of Public Safety, and met Smith at the intersection of University Place and Comstock Avenue, he said.

Smith told police that when she got out of her car, Devendorf allegedly approached her with a closed fist and punched her in the face, Connellan said.

Attempts to reach Smith Tuesday night were unsuccessful.There were dents in both the passenger and driver sides of the car, Connellan said. Smith told SPD she didn’t recognize the other people in the group, but that she had been an acquaintance of Devendorf. She said she wanted Devendorf arrested, Connellan said. He said the charge would be for harassment in the second degree.

Under New York state penal law, harassment in the second degree is defined as striking, shoving or kicking another person, or threatening to do the same. It’s classified as a violation, which is a step below misdemeanor.

A DPS crime log shows a Nov. 1 report of harassment at 2:55 a.m. on Walnut Avenue.

Following Syracuse’s 76-71 victory Tuesday night over Richmond, in which Devendorf scored 22 points, SU head coach Jim Boeheim said he could not comment on the allegations, but that there will be no possible athletic repercussions until the case goes through Judicial Affairs.

‘Whenever any student or student athlete is involved in the judicial system, it’s going to be decided through that system,’ Boeheim said. ‘How it comes out at the end is when we’ll respond to it.’

-Staff writers Kyle Austin and Jared Diamond contributed reporting to this article.shmelike@syr.edu

Published on November 18, 2008 at 12:00 pm