There may be a good reason for not prosecuting the naked Harvard College student who took illegal drugs, took off his clothes in the median of a busy street, threw them at a woman, refused to cooperate with cops who showed up, grappled with cops for an extended time on the ground, and then spat blood and saliva at a paramedic.
But the problem is, authorities haven’t given any. By that, we don’t just mean that they haven’t given a good reason.
They haven’t given any reason.
As of Friday evening, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office hadn’t even released a statement. The Cambridge Police Department statement buries the lede at the end of the third paragraph, after 243 words about something else. But even that lone sentence is ambiguous: “No charges have been filed against the student.”
It takes the student’s lawyers’ press release to make it clear: The student won’t be prosecuted.
We all get the Friday-before-a-long-weekend routine at play here. Make the announcement and hope nobody pays attention. Fair enough.
But making an inadequate announcement about an important matter and not explaining it isn’t acceptable. This is a highly publicized case where a legally adult man did manifestly illegal things in public that led to a violent encounter with police.
The behavior of the police officer in that violent encounter is under scrutiny by authorities, which is appropriate. But so are the authorities under scrutiny, by the rest of us – which is appropriate.
An explanation is required. Middle District Attorney Marian Ryan needs to give it.
