The student arrested on charges of assaulting a professor in the Reynolds Journalism Institute on Tuesday went through an academic disciplinary hearing Thursday. Although the Office of Student Conduct does not comment on individual disciplinary cases, one victim in the incident said Student Conduct’s decision will affect whether he chooses to press charges.
MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said the incident started at about 2 p.m Tuesday when junior Jay Dee Bush, 32, entered the Futures Lab in RJI with a drink and assistant professor Karen Mitchell asked him to throw it away. When he refused, Mitchell picked up the drink to throw it away.
Weimer said Bush pushed Mitchell from behind, shoving her into a table. Both the table and Mitchell fell to the ground. Senior journalism student David Teeghman said he then tried to intervene and pull Bush away.
“By the time I got over there, Karen was back up,” Teeghman said. “I tried to pull him off of her, and ended up pulling him onto me. He pushed me and had his hands on my throat just for a second.”
Teeghman said there were about a dozen other students present and people could see the incident from both the first floor and the Futures Lab.
Weimer said Bush’s motive was not determined in the incident.
“I don’t know why he did it, but he assaulted two other people and that’s that,” Weimer said.
Teeghman’s parents were the first people to notify MUPD at about 2:30 p.m.
“I left the J-School pretty quickly after the incident and called my parents,” Teeghman said. “I kind of assumed the professors who talked to the student afterward would call the police. It didn’t occur to me to be the one to do so.”
When first contacted by The Maneater, MUPD had not received a call regarding the Futures Lab altercation. Weimer said he was concerned that MUPD was not immediately alerted of the incident.
Teeghman said the result of Bush’s academic disciplinary hearing would have an impact on whether he presses charges.
“I initially wanted to because I thought he wasn’t going to get any sort of academic punishment,” Teeghman said. “The only card I had was to press charges legally. I still haven’t made up my mind.”
Bush remained in the Futures Lab after the incident and was arrested at about 3 p.m. on simple assault charges, a misdemeanor under Columbia city ordinances. Bush was released after posting $500 bond, Weimer said. Bush is listed in the student directory as a junior and is still enrolled at MU, according to the University Registrar.
