Felony charges for student who pulled seven fire alarms

After a series of unnecessary and unexpected building evacuations, a student was arrested and charged with seven felonies after pulling fire alarms in McEwen and Thompson halls seven times since Nov. 8.

Freshman Eric Tomkowiak pulled fire alarms in Thompson Hall on Nov. 8 and Dec. 4, in McEwen on Nov. 28, Nov. 30, and twice on Dec. 3, and was caught in the act after pulling the alarm in McEwen on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

The student told University Police he pulled the alarms in order to get out of taking a test.

He was charged with one class D felony count of "falsely reporting an incident" for each of the seven alarms he pulled. Lieutenant Randy Moore from University Police said that although Tomkowiak is 18 and will be tried as a youthful offender, he thinks he will likely be convicted of at least one of the seven felony charges.

"I will admit that I was very upset to hear that it was one of our students," Hefner said. "When I was hearing about it I was telling people that I could not believe that one of our students would act in such an irresponsible manner."

The student has been placed on temporary suspension pending a hearing with University officials.