Editor's Note: This information is taken directly from Middletown Police arrest reports. The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
A naked 20-year-old student, so high and combative on psychedelic mushrooms that he had to be twice, led officers on a chase near campus after terrifying a 10-year-old girl at her home, report.
On April 14 at 5:45 p.m., police were called to a home in the 200 block of Cross Street on the report that a man, later identified as Max J. Shafer-Landau, 20, of Church Street, had tried to get into the house through the back door, according to the arrest report.
On the scene, police saw a naked man running up the hill of Jukonski’s Auto on Thomas Street toward Butternut Street and past several people enjoying Butternut Hollow Park, the report says.
Officers ordered Shafer-Landau to put his hands in the air and to stop, however, he ran about 20 feet before police tackled him, the report says, as he struggled and pulled one officer’s hair.
The report says a Taser was used, which allowed officers to get one of Shafer-Landau's hands in handcuffs but he pulled away and needed to be Tased a second time. Still, he flailed his feet, so officers put shackles on his ankles and carried him to the car as Shafer-Landau “contorted” his body and struggled.
Back at the home, a 10-year-old female victim said in the report she was in her kitchen looking out the window when a man ran from the woods in the back yard toward the house, opened the outside door and came inside the porch.
It's unclear when exactly the man became unclothed.
She was scared and crying as he turned the door handle but it was locked, the report says. She then saw him run back toward the woods, the report details.
At headquarters, Shafer-Landau told officers he was “under the influence of mushrooms” and the last thing he remembers is eating a brownie with mushrooms in it. In his cell, the report says, “he began to exhibit unusual behavior, including masturbation.”
Police soon identified him as a Wesleyan University student with a Wisconsin photo identification card that was found in his dorm room.
He was charged with second-degree criminal trespass, interfering with an officer, assault of a public safety officer, and second-degree breach of peace.
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Cassandra Day, I hope you remove his post. And for that matter, is there any reason why the kid's last name and first initial is even mentioned AT ALL in your article? Do journalistic integrity, assumptions of personal privacy, and frankly human decency fall to the wayside for the sake of a juicy detail in a Patch article? Mrs Day, I encourage you to rethink your harmful and degrading privacy policy.
14 seconds ago @Michael - incredibly well-put. Was going to say the same thing regarding threatening to use a GUN!!!! on Shafer-Landau. A freakin' GUN!! Are you kidding me? @John Q. Public - "Sparky," "whacko," and "psycho" will never stick either in college or after because the people that go to Wesleyan know who he is and know what he's really like. With regards to Bobo's previous comment wanting the father of the girl to spend 10 minutes with Mr. Shafer Landau, I'm pretty sure that after those 10 minutes they'd both leave good friends. That's the type of person he is. @guest posting the Sacramento online article - that guy was an IMMIGRANT, possibly illegal (I didn't read the whole thing if it specifies anywhere) and Shafer-Landau is an awesome, fun, kind, and intelligent STUDENT who is actually contributing to both society and the Wesleyan/Middletown community so to those who say to "be nice to your neighbors in Middletown," Shafer Landau is nicer than 95% of Wes on any other day. Can we all also realize that it was WesFest AND Zonker Harris day and some crazy shit was bound to happen in some form?
while i think @townies_whatajoke's attitude is obnoxious and arrogant, i definitely had my fair share of trashy white working class townie teenagers yell obscenities at me, call me a "faggot" because i happened to be wearing a pink oxford shirt, etc. people are people. some people really suck, some are really cool, and most are OK :-)
For Average Citizen's benefit, since the article itself identifies Mr. Shafer-Landau, your suggestion that I am malicious or should be banned for posting his "personal information" or pointing out the obvious consequences of his actions is rather nonsensical. If his life is ruined by these events it is because of his actions, not my words. If you think that people are going to be laughing at him because I said they would you have greatly overestimated my influence on the universe. I can observe and predict human behavior, but I am not the cause of it. If you are not happy about the consequences that befall your friend from this incident then put the blame where it belongs, on him.
It is a gross and de-humanizing generalization you are making.
I don't really care what he intended, what he did was scary and out of control. "Under the influence" is no excuse, he placed himself out of control and is responsible for his actions in that state. And where the hell were this kid's "friends"? Now you. What purpose does your arrogant little screed serve? Did you intend to sound ignorant, irresponsible and unpleasant? It's hard to tell what's stupider, your intentions or your execution of them. Maybe you should apply that fantastic potential to living up to your own opinion of yourself.
Also, the student did not walk into the house naked. The student tried to break into the house, and the student was running in the street naked. These are two different things that happened. For what it's worth, the student says that he did not masturbate, but rather had to pee.
Hostility breeds hostility. I feel that this is one of the main reasons that the Wesleyan campus is actually such an unsafe place - the open campus status unites as well as divides, but if students didn't have a perceived status of "rich", "privileged" and most of all "elitist" then perhaps fewer assaults and robberies would happen on campus. I think the student should be expelled or at least suspended. I think the commenter named Bobo maybe has some issues/had a serious conflict with a Wesleyan person in the past...or whatever, I don't really care, there's no need for an explanation, everyone has the right to be mean and that's fine. I think that the greater conflict in these threads need to be addressed, and I think that Wesleyan students and Middletown residents need to stop thinking that they are each the victim and work towards something constructive.
1. He was not naked when he entered the porch 2. The people who reported him and saw him on their porch was a mom and a 10-year old SON 3. He did not masturbate in his cell. (Which by the way... since when does the totally legal things someone does in a personal jail cell, AFTER AND UNRELATED TO THE ARREST, get mentioned in an arrest report?) 4. Did he 'pull an officer's hair' in an aggressive way? Or, as is clear to anyone reading the rest of the description, was he simply scared and trying desperately to flee? In sum, what we have here is more than just the Patch reporter 'forgetting' the gender of the child and 'assuming' that the accused was naked at the porch, or the police officer deciding that it's his job to report on whether the accused was picking his nose/masturbating/whatever in the jail cell or not. It's a deliberate attempt to distort the story in order to paint the accused as a sexual deviant. Thank you sensationalist, obscure news reporter and pissed-off, totally unprofessional police officer for doing your utmost to make sure people think of him as a sex offender and pedophile. That was really nice of you guys to do.
It is funny how much effort some of you townies are putting into your posts, and then criticizing student posts for not being accurate or being uneducated. When I am on a crap website talking to townie scum, I don't put any effort into my words. Why would townie scum deserve anything from me? I'm a 20 year old, white, privileged male. I have nothing to do with townie scum and never will. When I am in an interview for a high-salary job, I'll put some effort into it and get hired. In the end, no matter how much you guys detest Wes students, we are going to win. We are the winners, and you are the losers. We pay $58k a year and get educated and can trip our balls off with a fraction of the consequences that a townie scum would have. Do you know why Wesleyan students face fewer consequences? Because Middletown needs us. Because we are a gift to the world. Because we are wealthy and privileged and intelligent and the future of America. Bye bye now townie scum, sucks to suck.
"CORRECTION: The victims were a woman and her 10-year-old daughter, not a 10-year-old son, according to the police report". Also, the Patch article does not say that the individual was naked when he tried to break into the home. You can criticize the police for including the details about his alleged activities in his cell, but I think Patch has accurately reported the details of the police report.
If this kid had wandered onto my property he would have been cured forever of taking drugs. Want to find out? Take some shrooms, and come over. I will cure you of being a spoiled condescending asshole for good. Don't forget kid, there are some powerful clubs in Middletown ;)