Court action done for rowdy Union hockey fans

PHOTOGRAPHER: Patrick Dodson

Union College students celebrate on Union Avenue in Schenectady after watching the Union Hockey team win the Frozen Four championship on Saturday, April 12, 2014.

The cases have all been concluded against five Union College students arrested last April during a rowdy celebration of the school’s national hockey championship win, records show.

One of the five had originally faced a low-level felony, as well as misdemeanors. The other four originally faced misdemeanors. Four of the five pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation-level offense, and were fined $100, records show. The final case of the four concluded in December. The fifth case was given an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal in September, meaning that if the student stays out of trouble for six months the case will be dismissed, records show.

Michael Tiffany, a City Court prosecutor for the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, handled several of the cases. He spoke generally Wednesday and said the resolutions were each the result of the facts present.

“We looked at each one of the circumstances and made a determination, just looking at the facts,” he said.

The five students were each arrested late April 12 when a gathering of students on Union Avenue celebrating the Union ice hockey team’s NCAA championship turned rowdy.

Between 400 and 500 students spilled onto the roadway on the edge of campus. Police said some in the crowd began hurling unopened beer cans and glass bottles, damaging a cruiser and striking an officer, who was not badly hurt.

Police also said someone in the crowd shot pepper spray during the incident. The celebration ran until 1 a.m.

Schenectady police called in officers from six other police agencies to help control the crowd. At one point, Mayor Gary McCarthy used a police car’s public address system to implore the crowd to celebrate safely.

A Gazette photographer said most of the students were docile, but the crowd began to chant “police brutality” as several of their classmates were taken into custody.

A check of records indicates none of the five students arrested are pursuing any civil claims against the city or Police Department.

The five were Mark M. Fisher, 18; John B. Hathaway, 21; Nicholas L. Hersey, 20; Cameron E. Robertson, 19; and Broderick R. Shea, 20.

The original charges ranged from felony second-degree attempted assault to inciting to riot and other misdemeanors. Shea’s face is a bloody mess in Gazette photos of him being arrested, but no other injuries were reported.

Shea received the adjournment in contemplation of dismissal. His attorney, along with Hersey’s, could not be reached for comment.

Attorney Steven Kouray, who represented Fisher and Robertson, said he had an issue with the original charges filed, and he believed his clients had a strong defense, but they chose to take the deals to get on with their lives.

He said his clients are good kids and the outcomes did not impact their standings with the school.

Hathaway’s attorney, Terence Kindlon, said last week that the resolution was a reasonable one that ended the case and allowed his client to move on. He also noted that disorderly conduct, being a violation, leaves his client with no criminal history and did not impact his standing at the school.