Name that pill

A mysterious pill found in a residence hall had officers searching far and wide for answers this past Wednesday.

At around 9:10 p.m. on Oct. 12, an officer was dispatched to a residence hall regarding an unknown white pill that had been turned over to the front desk worker.

Officers arrived on scene and made contact with the complainant, in the hall director’s office. The complainant advised that he was contacted by the front desk staff regarding the pill.

The complainant handed the officer a small, clear plastic baggie with one round white pill inside and told him where the pill was found. He did not know what the pill was, but believed it looked suspicious.

Campus police observed the pill was white and round, with the letters “JCL” imprinted inside of a diamond, on one side. The other side had “500” imprinted on it.

The officer conducted an internet search, attempting to identify the pill, but were unable to find any matches on the pill identifier websites.

However, the officer did observe an internet chat website that stated the pill was possibly made by a Palestinian company and contained acetaminophen.

According to the report, the officer contacted a pharmacist at Walgreens to see if he would be able to identify the pill. The pharmacist determined the pill was not in their database and suggested the officer contact poison control.

Campus police then contacted Wisconsin poison control, and were advised the pill was not in their database either. Poison control suggested the pill could possibly be from another country, which would serve to explain why it was not showing up in their database.

Unable to identify the pill, campus police photographed the pill and completed a property card. They packaged the pill and secured it in evidence lockers.

Don’t get on the elevator

Campus police responded last Wednesday to a student stuck in an elevator with a broken emergency phone.

According to reports, at 12:46 p.m. on Oct. 12, officers were contacted by the Eau Claire County Communications Center advising police they received a call from the emergency phone in an elevator in a residence hall.

The communications center was not able to communicate with the person who called.

Upon the officers’ arrival, they observed the elevator was positioned on the fifth floor. There was also a sign on the elevator doors indicating it was having problems.

The officer spoke with the front desk employee, who stated the previous front desk worker had told her that Kone Elevator had already been contacted regarding the problems. The front desk employee heard that someone had been stuck previously, but had gotten out and talked to the front desk about the problem.

The front desk employee was not aware if anyone else was still stuck on the elevator.

Campus police pushed the call button on the first floor, but the elevator would not respond. The officer went to the basement control room and shut off power to the elevator.

The officer then noticed the indicator panels above the elevator doors showed it was on the basement level. Upon opening the exterior elevator door on the basement level, the officer discovered the car was not there.

Campus police then went to the fifth floor and found the elevator car and assisted the trapped female, out of the elevator.

The female informed police she was unharmed and she had gotten on at the fourth floor about 10 minutes before. She pushed the button for the first floor and the elevator went to the first floor, but the doors would not open upon arrival.

She informed police she pushed other floor buttons and the elevator would travel to those floors, but the doors would not open. The elevator eventually made it to the fifth floor but then would not travel, no matter which button was pushed.

She pushed the button on the phone, but was not able to hear anyone or speak with anyone. She tried to push the other alarm buzzer button, but this she didn’t get a response. She then waited for police to arrive.

Campus police left the power turned off to the elevator and contacted UW-Eau Claire facilities management, who said they would contact the elevator company and give them more information regarding the incident.

The icing on top of a messy situation

After assisting a student out of a malfunctioning elevator last Wednesday, campus police discovered vandalism inside the elevator car.

The female who was trapped in the elevator, informed police that someone had damaged the emergency phone box prior to the incident.

She showed the officer a picture of the emergency phone. It appeared someone had smeared some type of orange colored material on the surface of the phone box.

The student thought it could have been cake frosting.

According to the report, she advised police that when she tried to use the emergency phone to call for help, she was unable to communicate with the dispatchers at the communications center.

Dispatchers also advised they could not hear the student from inside the elevator.

The student also tried the alarm buzzer, which did not make any sound. It is unknown if this was vandalized also.

Kone elevators was notified to come look at the problem and give an assessment on on the damages were, later discovering the emergency phone was broken due to the damage.