Caught in the crossfire: Man arrested during Boston University snowball fight allegedly hit cop with snow

An officer holds down a man during a snow ball fight. Photo via Occupy Beantown

UPDATE – A spokesman for the Boston University Police Department said today that a man who was arrested during a campus snowball fight Friday night allegedly struck an officer with a snowball, and was not tased, despite reports to the contrary.

A video taken during a the massive snowball fight at the Charles River esplanade shows a man being held down in the snow, cuffed, and taken away by Boston University police officers.

“I do know that one person was arrested for allegedly hitting a police officer with a snowball as officers were trying to disperse a crowd… that had snow plows and other emergency vehicles that needed to come through,” said Colin Reilly, BUPD spokesman.

“The tasing is a false report. There is no way it could have happened. Officers don’t carry tasers. Whoever suggested it doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” Reilly said.

A spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department said Sunday that she had been inundated with calls over the weekend from people asking about the arrest because some mistook the officer for a Boston Police officer.

“We have no record of making any arrests during a snowball fight this weekend,” she said.

The video, posted to YouTube, shows the officer holding down the man then taking him to a cruiser in handcuffs. As the man is being led to the car chants of “let him go” can be heard, and one woman screams, “What did he do?”

A man on the video can be heard saying, “I saw his face in the snow for ten minutes, that can’t be healthy.”

Reilly said he did not have the name or charges of the suspect readily available.

The video, which can be viewed on YouTube, has had over 10,000 hits.

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