Needle investigation may take months

More than a week after hypodermic needles were reported in two separate machines on campus, Buddy Peaster, chief of MTSU Police, said that it would likely take months to get any more information.

“Once we get the syringes to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation it could very likely be months before we get it back,” Peaster said. “They get so many items and so many cases [that] it takes time and while it is important to us because we want information, in comparison to a homicide, I doubt they will put a high priority on it.”

Peaster said he doesn’t expect to hear anything back from the crime lab on any examinations for quite a while.

A student pricked her right thumb on a hypodermic needle on Oct. 29 after she reached into the change dispenser of a Pepsi machine located in Peck Hall.

The second incident occurred on Nov. 9 on the first floor of the Keathley University Center after a student reported something suspicious in the SoBe Lifewater machine, which later turned out to be another needle.

Peaster said that while the police department is working hard to inspect machines, they are also employing many other people on campus to keep students safe.

“We have had police officers check the vending machines in the area of the incident, but we have also employed people who maintain the machines to check the machines and utilize our student patrols when they go on their rounds,” Peaster said. “We have given the duty and assignment to more people to make sure we stop this from happening again.”

Peaster said that they have received multiple phone calls in regards to the first needle found but no one has reported anything since the first incident.

“Someone reported that they saw a flyer that was being held up by a hypodermic needle but that was before the first incident,” Peaster said. “But that’s about it, we haven’t had anything else that has come up and we have yet to identify a clear motivation whether it was frank in nature, someone who is more disturbed in nature, or just a joke.”

Peaster said that students should take caution, but not become paranoid or alarmed at the idea of more needles because that type of reaction does not keep people safe.

“Just don’t let the idea of, ‘Oh my God, this might happen to me,’ get into your head, but general concern can help students get prepared for what to look for and that gives students the best chance to be safe in the environment that they are in,” Peaster said. “Statistically there is a higher risk of [infectious] diseases standing about with someone who is sick or having unprotected sex than getting pricked by a needle in a vending machine.”

Students, faculty and staff should contact the MTSU Police Department at 615-898-2424 with any information concerning the incidents.   

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2 comments

Kerry Posey

Mon Nov 30 2009 16:44

Very scary! Hope they catch the creep and stick him with the needles!

Vince

Thu Nov 12 2009 23:25

If the TBI won't test the needles because they "aren't a priority", then why don't they send them to a lab that will test them? It is important that they be tested so that the people that have been pricked with the needles can know what they are in for. As far as the statistics go, stats mean absolutely nothing. Just because the odds are higher of something else causing it or that it is rare that the instance cause it has little, if anything, to do with these events.

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