MSU athlete injured after weekend fight
By Abby Lubbers and Jacob Carpenter (Last updated: 10/21/08 10:59pm)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.
Originally Published: 10/21/08 12:01am














Ivan Yankinoff
10/21/08 1:19amPending pictures of Aly or Alyse, I will determine my interest in this article.
Chase
10/21/08 8:00amDid anybody see the fight? What really happend? Please, let’s hear the details.
Steve
10/21/08 8:45amHere’s an idea for the morons living at the house and their equally moronic neighbor (Alyse): CALL THE POLICE.
We are all grown up now, we don’t need to be acting like beligerent animals to mark our territory on the playground. If there are people outside looking to fight you, why not just go back inside, lock the door and let the police handle it? Not to mention, you never know when someone is going to pull a weapon on you. Letting your ego do your thinking for you is how you get stabbed/shot/beaten/etc.
duh
10/21/08 8:59amhey dumb ass, someone called the police…read the first part of the article.
My New Haircut
10/21/08 9:08amFirst MotherF**a that looks at me wrong…I’m Startin a fight!
Spartan Dog
10/21/08 9:59amFIGHTING these mutherfuckers should have been fighting at 3:30 earlier that day when we were getting our ass beat by Ohio state.now these motherfckers want to fight over some female man please. I Shure hope someone on the wolverines tries to mess with that same female and then maybe we can win Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bbwhine
10/21/08 10:30amAn unknown number of people were involved in an unknown crime resulting in unknown injuries to an unknown number of participants from an undisclosed location for doing something unknown. The unknown parties made unknown statements to the police. No arrests have been made nor charges filed for the unknown event. Man, reporting is really easy, maybe I need to change careers. My current job requires me to actually have information before making a report.
fuck the football players
10/21/08 10:31amit was 3-4 football players who came in and started shit with the hockey players in the HOCKEY HOUSE. lets see if the football players actually get in trouble for something they did and not get off with nothing because the are on the team
First of all...
10/21/08 10:39amFirst of all, more than one person called 911. Second of all, they weren’t fighting over a girl. It was an ambush. Get your facts straight and don’t be beligerent. Someone got sent to the hospital with a serious injury and you’re talking about winning the stupid football game against U-M. Get real.
And Steve, the football players that oh so politely drove up onto the lawn and beat the crap out of several people ENTERED THE HOUSE and started throwing punches. They weren’t on the front lawn initially. So please, tell me…what should they have done then?
Huh
10/21/08 10:48amHuh? I read in the Detroit Free Press as well that the fight happened at a hockey house and that a hockey player was injured, but what evidence do we have that the members of the football team were the instigators?
I’d like to hear players’ names and whether or not Dantonio is going to suspend their sorry asses for this incident. Maybe if they showed this much fight earlier in the day they wouldn’t have been destroyed by Ohio State.
I would venture a guess that the hockey players started talking crap and the football players started a fight. Hopefully Dantonio will suspend them and keep this program above the John L Smith garbage that it used to be.
sore losers
10/21/08 10:56amchances are these football players weren’t starters because what dumbass starter would go and fight risking not playing. whoever did this are probly no name players on the roster who think they are hot shit
i hope they get hardcore punished
spartan Dog
10/21/08 11:08amI got my facts straight trust it was over a female.And what you mean AMBUSH we ain’t the damn MAFIA talkin bout ambushing your a dumbass.
Spartyon
10/21/08 11:23amNo trust me, it Was NOT OVER A GIRL!
My friends are Hockey players who live in the house.
One of them was really drunk, and (stupidly) talking trash about MSU football. Saying “the football team sucks, blah blah, the hockey team can beat OSU hockey, why do they get all the respect, etc.”
A football player (no one knows his name cause he is like 4th string LB) took exception and started talking back.
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Tom
10/21/08 1:16pmStarter or no starter, it doesn’t matter. When I was there, we had this mediocre DB named Cliff Dukes that beat up some frat guy (who ended up needing surgery). Dukes was a starter at that point.
These players will be facing some very serious charges – B&E, aggrevated assault, etc.
I also remember how beligerant hockey players can get, and because they are pretty scrappy guys, their mouths run when they drink. Although what the football players did was wrong, you better not talk trash unless you’re ready for a rumble.
LOL
10/21/08 1:46pmThis is hilarious. I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough? Looks like they’re bigger pussies than I thought.
Ed T
10/21/08 1:54pmI’m no lawyer, but I don’t think “trash talking” is a criminal act, especially when you’re doing it to a guest in your own home. However, entering someone’s house and assaulting them is a crime. I trust the football program keeps some good lawyers on retainer.
comicbook man
10/21/08 2:36pmWoo woo, waa waa, hoot hoot, click click. Sounds of stick being beaten against rock followed by more hoots and growls then a charge by the dominant male pigmy brained ingnoathleticus as it swoops by another challenger. Soon the entire area erupts into display behavior before settling down briefly to pick bugs out of each others hair and groom their fellows briefly. Carefully setting a beer trap the hunter is able to easily draw several less intelligent members of the troup towards his trap……..Aahh life in the wilds of E.Lansing following a total beating by OSU. Peace be among you furry little brothers.
Steve
10/21/08 2:41pmForgive me, but where does it say that several people called the police? And where does it say that they entered the house?
“âThere was name calling, people hitting each other and then people would go away,â she said. âThen they would come back â on and off for about an hour.â”
If they were off and on for about an hour that to me sounds like there were several opportunities to call the police.
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Water boy
10/21/08 2:44pmDon’t forget the little Mexican guy that was there. He saw everything but when ELPD got there he said he see naaating Me was just out si cause there were not to mushroom room in de house.
Jimmy the Gent
10/21/08 4:12pmHow stupid. Maybe the football players could have taken out some of that aggression in practice while preparing for the game. Morons. This pisses me off. They deserve to be insulted. They made a fool of themselves on Saturday. They need to get out there and WIN. If we lose to Michigan then we all deserve everything michigan fans say about us. They are lucky enough to be on the football team at MSU, and to blatantly throw it all away because some drunk is talking shit, is so asinine that they deserve everything they get. Hopefully expulsion and criminal charges. Who hasn’t had a drunken asshole talk trash to them?
Cannot Spell Sparty Without The Party
10/21/08 4:25pmIt’s sure convenient that no charges will be made until late this week or early next week. That will leave just enough time for our boys to see the field for the game this weekend. Some might consider this lucky, but if our football program knows who is involved, they should be suspended pending further investigation. Didn’t something similar happen in Ann Arbor recently? I believe their player was immediately kicked off the team. We should follow in a similar manner, or else we’ll continue to be laughed at more than we already are.
a;sldkfj
10/21/08 4:39pmI was there, Steve. AND I was sober. I watched the whole thing happen and talked to the police. I think I know my facts.
Steve
10/21/08 4:57pmto the person who can’t type their name – So you are telling me that people did call the police, yet one person claims it went on for an hour? I know the police response time may not always be the fastest, but when I’ve called 911 the response time certainly was not an hour.
Football
10/21/08 5:12pmDon’t even start calling out the football team. People get into fights all the time at college who aren’t football players. It happens everywhere at every major college once or more. Good luck to Sturges on his recovery. There was a few walk-ons involved, nothing huge here. Don’t be so quick to kick people off the team, that would just ruin their lives…their is a better way to be taught a lesson than that.
Julius Holmes
10/21/08 5:28pmAll i can say is coach d won’t be happy. He doesnt play that fighting and undisciplined stuff like john L. used to do. When john l was the coach football players like teage and adams ran around beating people all the time but you always saw them playing on saturday. Whatever it is there will be conseqences. Sometimes its just easier to walk away.