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‘Incoherent’ student drives car into Quad

Senior Staff Writer

Published: Monday, February 22, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 23:02

quad car

NICOLE KARAMICHAEL / The Daily Reveille

An LSU police officer guides his K-9 on Tuesday during an inspection of architecture sophomore Storm Erie’s car at 9:45 a.m. in the Quad. Erie parked the car, threw out all his belongings and walked away with his dog, leaving the engine running. LSU police officers soon found him in the Art and Design Building.


To see a slideshow of the incident, click here.

To see a related article, click here.

The University student who  caused an uproar Tuesday when he drove a car into the Quad before parking it and throwing out a random assortment of items including a large sling blade and a gas can, posed no threat to the University community, said Sgt. Kevin Scott, LSU Police Department Spokesman.

After being located by police, Storm Erie was voluntarily taken to the hospital with no visible injuries, and he is now in medical care, Scott said.

Scott described the architecture sophomore as "incoherent," but said he had no visible physical injuries.

Erie's sister, Skye, said he has a medical problem the family has been struggling with but did not elaborate on the problem and chose not to comment further.

There are currently no charges filed against Erie, but Scott said charges will likely follow the ongoing investigation.

Although the incident ended with no injuries, many witnesses criticized the response from LSUPD, claiming it took more than 10 minutes for police to reach the Quad, a claim Scott refuted.

Witnesses and police said University student Storm Erie drove a blue Mercedes along the sidewalk around Middleton Library, down the steps at the front entrance and through the Quad, nearly hitting multiple students before parking on a grassy area in the middle of the quad.

"He drove down the steps at the library, honking his horn and almost hitting people," said Kandice Tyler, psychology junior, who witnessed Erie drive his car into the quad. "I really thought he was going to start shooting or something."

Erie, accompanied by his dog, began throwing the contents of his vehicle onto the ground in the Quad.

A dirty pair of rubber boots, a half-empty bottle of wine, a large wooden sling blade, a djembe, a four-sided lugwrench, a skateboard, a wooden chess set, a sweater, a pair of shoes, landscaping bags, a flashlight and a small mug littered the ground behind the car.

He also propped up a set of blueprints along the back of the running car.

"He was a real scraggily white dude — he was either crazy or on something serious," said Michael Fernandez, sociology junior. "He walked up to me and said, ‘I just want to shake your hand.' I asked him what he was doing, and he said, ‘Blueprints, man — come check out these blueprints.'"

Architecture junior Jeremy Bunner, a classmate who saw the situation, said the blueprints were from an annual architecture competition.

"We spent a lot of time and effort on them," Bunner said. "Maybe he was just proud of it."

Fernandez and other witnesses said Erie threw CDs into the air before attempting to jack up his car.

He also placed a large gas can on top of his car before moving it to the top of a nearby garbage can. The can contained barely enough gas to fill the bottom, Scott said.

Joe Rhodes, a graduate instructor, said he called the police for the second time and instructed students to stay away from Erie when he took the gas can from the car.

Rhodes and other witnesses said Erie then put his dog on a leash, picked up his backpack and walked to the Art and Design Building, leaving his car and its contents in the middle of the Quad.

Rhodes followed Erie into the building, where he said Erie shook hands with an unidentified student who handed Erie a small electronic device and left.

Rhodes said he instructed people to leave the building.

"I was thinking, ‘This is how memorials get built,'" Rhodes said.

Scott later confirmed Erie was carrying a radio amplifier which matched Rhodes'                  description of the object. Scott could not confirm where Erie got the radio amplifier.

Thomas Sofranko, professor and associate dean of the architecture program, said he was alerted to a commotion in the main lobby of the Art and Design building and found Erie and his dog wondering around the lobby.

Sofranko said he was unaware of Erie's earlier actions in the Quad and recognized him from the college.

"I said, ‘Storm, what is going on. Do you need to sit down?'" Sofranko said. "He looked distraught."

Sofranko said Erie followed him back to his office where they talked before police arrived.

Sofranko declined to explain what Erie said because it was "private."

Rhodes called the police again with Erie's location.

Scott said LSUPD arrived shortly after and searched Erie. He had no drugs in his possession, Scott said.

Police accounts of how long it took for officers to reach the Quad contradict several witness statements.

Scott said it took police three minutes to arrive in the Quad after receiving the first calls, according to radio records, which he said cannot be released until the investigation is complete.

Rhodes vehemently disagreed with LSUPD and said it took more than 10 minutes for police to arrive in the Quad.

"From the first time I called — and the operator said I wasn't the first one to call — it was 20 minutes until they found him," Rhodes said. "He was in the Quad for more than three minutes. He was in the Quad for at least 10 minutes."

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30 comments

Anonymous
Fri May 4 2012 23:30
This is the follow up story~ http://www.lsureveille.com/news/erie-drive-through-quad-had-message-1.2738324#.T6SeeI7Q1yA
Anonymous
Sat Jan 21 2012 14:36
Simply Storm put out symbols for life

A Djembe ~ Rhythm
A Chess Board ~ Strategy
A Pair of Waterproof Pants ~ Protection From the Elements
A Gas Can on a Trashcan ~ Out w the old in w The New Energy
A 30"x80" display of a spiraling transcendental Architecture Project across the trunk with Jumper Cables draped over it ~ Power to Architecture

And A Big Bush Axe Planted in the ground next to the drain grate ~ My work here is done

Storm Erie called his dog jacked up his back RIGHT portion of the car and headed to the Art and Design Building

The cops destroyed the image he created denounced him as insane and took pictures of the mess they made with his Intentfull Display.

A Pair of Rubber Boots ~ Walk on water
A Bob Marley Bag - The man who refused health support for his toe Cancer. A natural way of life Bob knew.
Storm Erie was playing B.G.'s True Story album while he Threw Bush And Mf Doom CDs into the air like "see deez!" and then he threw out some paper bags like "Clean it up"
B.G.s album was bumpin full volume with his sony sound system and 12" sub woofer
How do you interpret these events?

Anonymous
Tue Mar 16 2010 15:08
DITTO - back off. I know Storm and everyone should let this "storm" die down. He's a great and GENTLE kid, albeit struggling. The many "presumptuous" attacks to his character or the "why" behind what he did that I see posted here are not founding in evidence.
Anonymous
Wed Mar 10 2010 19:26
Storm is a good person and wouldnt hurt anyone..everyone needs to back off!
Anonymous
Sat Mar 6 2010 13:09
I am a family member of Storm's and I can assure the poster who said he was tripping on acid - that he/she could not be more wrong. Storm does have, as his sister Skye stated, a medical condition. Don't jump to conclusions about something you know nothing about bucko.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 08:12
Brother and sister with names "Storm" and "Skye" ? Help me.
jade
Fri Feb 26 2010 13:53
hey now storm is a godguy who had a really bad day, so can we all be civil and not attack his character?
Dave
Thu Feb 25 2010 19:02
What everyone seems to forget is that LSUPD's stance is that campus is a gun-free zone, and so it simply is not possible for anyone to bring a gun on campus and start shooting.
When seconds count, the police take minutes.
Anonymous
Thu Feb 25 2010 09:00
Well, as a very concerned parent, I would definitely like 15 minutes with the Police chief, as well as the staff at campus...This behavior is totally unacceptable in my opinion and this story could have had a very different. I think everyone should take this much more serious than some of you are. This is not a joke and has nothing to do with who names their kids what - this is totally about the safety of our students/faculty/staff. Joe acted very courageously and did what a lot would not have done. Let's compare it to the woman who calls 911 because her ex is banging on her door threatening to kill her and the cops say, "well until he actually does something we can't do anything about it"..(Let's not forget the OJ case). LSU PD - here is the message, get off your duffs and start responding and taking things more serious. How many more students and campuses have to come under fire and lives lost before you people realize that???? Very upset with this whole outcome. I urge the students there to stand behind Rhodes and make your voices heard...
Anonymous
Thu Feb 25 2010 01:26
This dude was definitely tripping on acid and everyone quoted in the article is covering for him
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 23:54
WHAT dis iz cRAZYiNESsss....i caint balieve this hapen on my schol campus, this is insanitie. wat the heck wil hapen nex??
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 23:14
Well, better safe than sorry. Had the student been a particular threat - with concealed weapons - he would've done colossal damage to the students in the Quad or in the A&D Building. White people are so crazy sometimes.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 23:04
Mr. Rhodes is correct in criticizing the police for a slow response time. This time no one was hurt, but do you know how many people could be shot and killed in 10 minutes? If Erie had had a gun and been firing it, even 10 minutes would have been way too long. Fortunately this ended with no one hurt but just google how many shots can be fired in 10 minutes from an automatic rifle (600 rounds per minute on one). The LSU PD should be more prepared for these types of incidents. A Parent
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 22:49
Hey James S.... What kinda people name their kids Storm and Skye? Is that relevant? The proper concern would be, "Is this kid a threat to society? To himself? Is it possible for him to become a functioning, law abiding citizen?" The answer as of now, no, he is mentally unstable. If you knew the whole story, you'd be less concerned with his name and more concerned about the bettering of his life and the life of everyone around him. Maybe he needs to be locked-up, or maybe he needs medication, one thing is for sure, he needs help, either God, Drugs, or an Institution. The ignorance is overwhelming here, this is a good friend who has had to live with his condition for years... it does suck that yalls campus PD sucks at responding. Glad no one was killed.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 22:33
The police were tied up ticketing students for jay walking across Dalrymple. Give them a break!
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 22:24
who can we email to complain? this is ridiculous
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 20:32
Roll TIDE! What a story. Do all irrational people at LSU make this big of deal over a bad parking job LOL. The crying is a bigger story than the poor boy.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 17:36
I don't think this is a matter of what Storm was intending on doing or what was going on. This is a matter of if this HAD been a case of a dangerous situation, the LSU PD would not have been there and the outcome would have been disastrous.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 14:46
Architecture.... that's what sent this kid over the edge. He didn't want to hurt anyone.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 24 2010 14:10
It seems like LSU is more concerned with public perception than the side of safety.






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