TikTok trend

At around 1:31 p.m. on April 11, an officer was approached by a male subject to discuss an incident that had occurred the night before around 10 p.m. 

The officer was sitting in his car, parked in the Corner Lot when he observed a male subject approaching several other vehicles and attempting to pull on the door handles. When they saw each other, the subject ran away towards a black Ford and left in it. 

He thought the incident was odd and decided to report it to the police. He told the officer that he had not gotten into any of the cars and he appeared to not be carrying anything on his person.

A records check was then conducted on the black Ford and it was a current Minnesota license plate. The registered address matched that of a current student, so contact was made with this student.

The officer called the student to find out more about the situation. After contact was established, the officer explained the reason for calling.

The student explained that he had been attempting to conduct a TikTok trend where people pull on their friends’ car doors to see if they are locked. The subject explained the trend was supposed to highlight if their friends were being responsible and locking their car doors.

He also said that he was not attempting to steal any items in his friends’ cars, but the officer still explained the concern about the trend and the consequences that could occur because of it.

The subject agreed it was not in his best interest and the call was ended. The records check showed the subject was not on probation and had no outstanding warrants. 

Trapped in Towers Hall 

At around 8:07 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, an officer was dispatched to Towers Hall South regarding a person being trapped in the practice room in the basement. 

Once arriving on scene, the officer observed two people outside the practice room. They were friends of the girl trapped in the practice room and told the officer she did not need any medical attention.

The officer attempted to open the locked door several times with a master key but was unsuccessful. A call was then made to contact the on-call mechanic to advise him of the situation. 

The mechanic said the officer would need to contact Chris Buckley, UW-Eau Claire’s Facilities Manager, and have him request a locksmith come and open the door. Buckley stated it should take around 20 minutes for the locksmith to arrive. 

While waiting for a locksmith, the officer saw a sticky note on the door stating that the practice room was closed and the door was broken. The officer asked the friends if they knew about the door and its issues.

The friends told the officer they had known the door was broken and explained it had been an ongoing issue. Several other students had also been locked in the practice room.

The responding officer was dispatched to an emergency medical call and told the friends that they would be back on scene. The friends said they would continue waiting until a locksmith would arrive.

Later at 9 p.m. another officer arrived on the scene and the responding officer requested to check and see if the practice room door had been unlocked. 

Soon after, the locksmith called the first officer and advised that the student had made it out of the practice room. The officer explained the issue and the locksmith explained that the door has a tight seal for the acoustics in the room which caused the recurring problems. 

Something in the trees 

At around 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, April 11 an officer was dispatched to an area just outside Schofield Hall and Centennial Hall in regards to an anonymous complaint. 

The complaint described a subject climbing trees in between Schofield and Centennial. The person was wearing a green shirt and gray pants and was carrying a skateboard.

On arrival, the subject had climbed down from the tree and the officer approached them and explained the complaint against him. The subject confirmed they were just climbing the tree.

The officer explained the concern for damage to the tree and the possibility of personal injuries. He advised the subject to not continue climbing the trees. 

A records check was conducted after clearing the scene and the subject, who had a Minnesota driver’s license, was not on probation. 

Moris can be reached at [email protected].