MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio and hockey head coach Rick Comley share their thoughts on the altercation involving MSU athletes at an off-campus house where several hockey players live. One MSU athlete was sent to the hospital Sunday morning.
A fight involving MSU athletes at an off-campus house where several hockey players live sent one MSU athlete to the hospital Sunday morning.
East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley said “three, possibly four victims” suffered injuries during a fight involving “multiple” suspects at about 1 a.m. Sunday outside 130 Center St., which is located on a side street near Michigan and Harrison avenues.
Daley said some of the suspects involved are members of the MSU athletics program but their names and sport affiliations were not released.
“We’re still trying to determine who got assaulted and who did the assaulting,” Daley said.
Daley said one unidentified individual left a house party at the residence and later returned with several other suspects, instigating multiple fights.
Daley declined to comment on what triggered the altercation.
One victim was sent to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital with undisclosed injuries and remained hospitalized Monday evening, Daley said. WLNS TV-6 reported Monday that the individual hospitalized was sophomore A.J. Sturges, a defenseman for the MSU hockey team. A hospital spokesperson said Monday evening that Sturges was in fair condition.
Police would not confirm that Sturges was the victim. Sturges’ father, John, declined to comment Monday night.
There were between 50-60 people in Center Street, yelling at each other between 12:30 a.m. and about 1:15 to 1:30 a.m., said Aly Moore, a dietetics junior who lives on Center Street and watched the night’s events from her window.
“There was name calling, people hitting each other and then people would go away,” she said. “Then they would come back — on and off for about an hour.”
Moore’s roommate, elementary education junior Alyse Pallas, heard the incident from her second-floor bedroom.
“You could tell there were two sides versus each other,” Pallas said.
Moore and Pallas did not see or hear emergency vehicles.
Daley said police are in the process of interviewing witnesses and victims who might have been injured at the scene but left without receiving treatment.
Charges stemming from the fight have not been filed and would not be filed until the end of the week or early next week, Daley said.
MSU athletics officials released a statement Monday, saying, “We are aware of an off-campus incident that occurred early Sunday morning. The MSU Athletics Department is cooperating fully with East Lansing Police in its open investigation.”
MSU Associate Athletics Director for Communications John Lewandowski said it was too early to comment because the investigation is still ongoing.
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