At 11 a.m. Friday morning, a loud knock came at the door of the Delta Upsilon fraternity house. Two of its members were in trouble.
"We're here to arrest Ian Patterson and Mike Smith," Natalie Aubrey said, reading from a rap sheet of names.
The two men were handcuffed, dragged into a car and driven down the block. There, black streamers hung in doorways to simulate prison bars and a white bed sheet hung on the exterior of the house, reading, "Alphatraz."
The women of Alpha Phi Fraternity carried out their Cardiac Arrest event Friday. Willing participants were taken from their homes or dorm rooms to the house, where they were booked by officers from the East Lansing Police Department.
In order to leave, inmates had to either post bail themselves or call someone to bring the money over. Proceeds went to the Alpha Phi Foundation, which benefits cardiac care programs and other philanthropic projects. Each participant raised about $50, and the event raised about $2,500 overall.
East Lansing police Officer Larry Sparkes was one of the officers to volunteer his time.
"It's a way for me to come back," said Sparkes, a student alliance officer in the late 1990s. "It's a great cause. That's why I'm here."
Matt Mayer, civil engineering sophomore and member of Delta Sigma Phi, attended the event.
"It's good for the community. It's nice to help out whenever you can," he said.
Megan Granito, vice president of Alpha Phi, said chapters all over the country hold similar events each year. This is the first time the women have done the project in about six years.
"We were hoping to have a larger response from the community," she said. The women had contacted professors about participating in the event, but none were able to get back with them.
In the coming years, members would like to have professors, athletes and coaches participate in the event. Advertising junior Nina Zamora said in previous years, the event has been big enough to garner television news coverage.
"It would be awesome to get it up to that level again," she said.
