Student arrested for taking dip at Fall Fest

When the line of students waiting to get into Fall Fest stretched from the Student Union to the rear of the Center for the Arts, one concertgoer decided to cut to the front and swim across Lake LaSalle.
Senior architecture major Timothy Reagen was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct on Saturday around 8 p.m. after swimming across the lake, according to Inspector Daniel Jay of the University Police Department.
Reagen left his clothes behind, dove into the water from the shore behind The Commons and swam with his UB Card in his mouth.
'I got about two-thirds of the way there and saw three cops on the shore,' Reagen said.
Reagen emerged from the lake with his UB Card held out for the UPD officers waiting for him on the shore.
'There really wasn't a point to turning around and running away,' Reagen said. 'You can't really blend into a crowd when you're in your boxers.'
The doors opened at 5:15 p.m. for the 6 p.m. show. Students waited in line well into the second and third acts of the four-act show.
Reagen arrived to the show an hour early and left to hang out with friends after seeing the long line, he said. When he returned later to find that the line hadn't gotten any shorter, he decided to try to swim to the front.
Reagen captured the attention of the students waiting in line, drawing cheers and applause after successfully reaching the other side of the lake.
'As soon as the cops cuffed me, they started booing,' Reagen said.
Reagen was referred to the Student-Wide Judiciary and the Amherst Town Court. This type of violation can carry a maximum penalty of 15 days in jail, but Reagen will probably receive a fine, Jay said.
Jay said that while the lake has been used in the past for academic purposes or minor activities, such model boat racing, this sort of use is not permitted.
'The lake is not for recreational use,' Jay said.
Reagen's backstroke skills also caught the eye of Fall Fest performer Lupe Fiasco, according to Bijan Nezami, senior biomedical sciences major and Reagen's roommate. After Reagen was arrested, Nezami ran toward the police to try to help his roommate. Student Association concert staff approached the police with a request from Fiasco to meet Reagen, according to Nezami.
The police did not release Reagen, who spent the duration of the concert in police custody.
'I was trying to push it but campus security wasn't letting it happen,' Nezami said. 'At the whole concert, everyone was talking about it in there.'

E-mail: spectrum-me@buffalo.edu