Engineering sophomore Jess Schuette received nine stitches for a busted lip Saturday afternoon as a result of an alleged incident with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill forward Ademola Okulaja following the men's basketball team's stunning 77-75 victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Although Schuette did file an incident report with the Duke University Police Department as he was being treated in Duke Hospital North's Emergency Room Saturday evening, he has not yet pressed charges against the 6-foot-9 UNC junior.
If Schuette were to do so, Major Robert Dean of Campus Police explained, he would most likely charge Okulaja with simple assault, a misdemeanor offense with penalties ranging in severity from a dismissal to a fine.
Schuette-a member of former Tent 72 who was sitting almost directly behind the Duke bench-said that, as he stormed the court, he found himself in the pathway the UNC players were supposed to take to return to their locker room.
At that time, Schuette said, Okulaja "came over to me, and he elbowed me in the face. Yes, I know a lot of people had been yelling at him in the area, but I swear I was not one of them."
When asked about the incident in the locker room, Okulaja told the media he "definitely" did not hit anyone. "I didn't touch nobody," Okulaja told The News & Observer of Raleigh. "I walked up; I was grabbed here and there, but I just kept walking out."
Brian Stekloff, a 1997 UNC graduate who sometimes serves as an assistant to Cameron security personnel, agreed with Okulaja's description of the bedlam that erupted in Cameron after the game.
"People were pushing against him, trying to get onto the floor and egging him on," said Stekloff, who was standing near the graduate-student entrance to Cameron. "He really just wanted to go back to the locker room, and was frustrated with the loss.... [Schuette] got hit hard, but, to me, Okulaja didn't deliberately hit that individual.... There was just a lot of pushing one way and the other, and Okulaja's a pretty large individual."
R.L. Ray, a captain with the Durham Police Department who also was helping with stadium security, said, however, that he witnessed the UNC team's exit from the floor and that Okulaja's post-game behavior was rather questionable.
"Okulaja popped two or three people," Ray told The N&O after the game. "I think it was intentional."
Rick Brewer, UNC's director of sports information, declined to comment on both the alleged incident and the possibility of a future warrant against Okulaja.
Although he attended the game, Brewer was not near the scene of the alleged incident because he sat across the floor on press row. "I was trying to get through the crowd myself," Brewer said, adding that he did not know whether UNC coach Bill Guthridge talked to Okulaja about the alleged incident.
Dean noted, however, that the UNC coaches were informed of the alleged incident before their team left Cameron.
Although he would not comment on the alleged incident in question, Brewer did vent his frustration with post-game celebrations in general.
"I've seen people storm the court at our place," said the 23-year veteran of UNC. "I would hope that the league could do something to prevent people from storming the court. The [Duke] game here at Chapel Hill, for example, the security was doubled, but there's not much you can do to keep people who aren't supposed to be on the court from going down there."
Schuette said he will consider a host of factors before deciding whether to file charges against Okulaja.
"I have to decide whether he was attacking me or not, instead of it being in the heat of the moment," Schuette said. "The last thing I want to see is riot police in Cameron. I don't want to see students restricted in any way."
Schuette added, however, that, "It'd be nice to have my hospital bill paid, and an apology would be nice, too."
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