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SUNY Students Arrested For Twitter Photo Showing Dog Doing Kegstand
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 11, 2014
Modified Mar 11, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 11, 2014
Modified Mar 11, 2014
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Two students at SUNY College of Brockport have been arrested after a photo of a dog doing a kegstand went viral. The photo was promoted by the wildly popular @SUNYpartystory, which rounds up party photos from across the SUNY system and helps parents understand they made the right choice by not wasting money sending their boorish offspring to a private college. Police have arrested Robert Yates, 20, and Shane Oliver, 20; both are students at SUNY's College at Brockport, a university spokesman confirmed.
Yates, who reportedly took the photo—which was captioned "Keg stands n Bits!"—was arrested yesterday and charged with torturing and injuring animals. Shane Oliver, who was reportedly holding the dog, faces the same charges. In a statement, the College at Brockport administration said, "We were alarmed to learn of this disturbing photo. The College is investigating this matter and will take appropriate action once the details surrounding the photo are learned."
Yates's roommates told a Rochester news affiliate that the dog did not belong to Yates, but to another man who lived in the house. The dog, a four-month-old black lab named Mya, was seized by the local dog warden and taken to an animal shelter, where she received shots and is reportedly in good health.
"I can't explain their actions," said one Yate's housemates. "I wasn't here, but I just know all these kids. We've been living here for a year now. It's not like we're horrible people. It's not like they meant to harm the dog or anything like that. We all love Mya, she's a great dog."
"Bobby's probably one of the nicest kids I've ever met here on campus," the housemate added. "He's such a hard worker and he cares about everyone. Bobby's not that type of person. If anyone's looking at this story, it's a complete misunderstanding." And anyway it's not like Mya drove drunk or left 16 tons of debris behind on the street for someone else to clean up. But just wait for St. Patrick's Day...
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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