Charges against three former Waynesburg University football players in connection with a September incident on campus were upheld and carried over to Greene County Court of Common Pleas for further proceedings in December as the result of a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Nov. 19, before Magisterial District Judge David Balint in Waynesburg.

Omari Lateef Scott, 19, of Washington, DC; Ja’Shawn Jordan Wyckoff, 19, of Cleveland Ohio; and Deon Keith Windham, 18, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were charged for an incident that occurred in Martin Hall on Sept. 8, where, according to the affidavit of probable cause, as well as in the testimony given at the preliminary hearing, Dominic Patrick, a sophomore at Waynesburg University, was assaulted by Scott in his dorm room.

During the testimony given by Patrick, he detailed how the three defendants were involved in an incident that left Patrick injured, and according to him, resulted in bruising and a laceration to his lip.

“They [Scott, Wyckoff and Windham] knocked [on] the door asking for the RA, and of course that’s not me, so I just kinda turned around, opened the door for them, and I felt someone come up on my neck saying, ‘you snuck me,’” Patrick said when asked by his attorney to retell the events that took place. “I turned around, it was Omari, he was pressed with me in my face, you know face-to-face with me, my roommate [Samuel Barber] got between us, said, ‘this ain’t happening here,’ I looked over to see two more people that came to the door with him, which was Deon and Ja’Shawn, and then he hit me three times.”

Patrick testified that he attempted to push Scott away to defend himself while Windham grabbed the back of his hoodie and shirt sleeve and Wyckoff was attempting to close the door. 

Kevin Thacker, who serves as the Resident Director of Martin Hall, appeared as a witness to the events and gave his accounting of what occurred. 

“Around 6 p.m., I was eating dinner, and I was hearing some noise. You know, maybe not too crazy cause we’re a rowdy dorm, majority of them are athletes, maybe just guys being loud. Then I heard yelling and that’s when I got up, put my shoes on and at that time, someone knocked on my door saying, ‘there’s a fight,’” Thacker said. 

He further elaborated on how he ran from his apartment on the third floor of the residence hall to the fourth floor where the incident in question was taking place. 

“I called security, ran upstairs, door was closed, knocked on the door, no one answered, so I keyed in, the three individuals, Omari, Deon and Ja’Shawn walked out the door, and that is all I witnessed with my own eyes. By that time, it was just Dominic and Sammy in the room,” he said.

Thacker’s testimony included noticing Patrick spitting blood from the laceration on his lip, as well as him being present when public safety interviewed the three defendants afterwards. 

“Dominic was in the back of his room behind the dresser, and he looked like he was just attacked, and he was bleeding from the mouth,” Thacker said when asked by Patrick’s attorney on the immediate aftermath of the event.

Melissa R. Francis, who served as the arresting officer for Waynesburg Borough Police Department in this case, according to the affidavit, as well as the one who interviewed Patrick the following day on the event, was called as the third witness in this case.

“Once I saw his [Patrick’s] injuries, the injury to his lip, which allowed me to believe there was some type of struggle that night, I reached out to campus security who stated that Omari, Deon and Ja’Shawn were pulled into a disciplinary thing, I’m not really sure. But they were pulled into the office based off of the statements Dominic told me, and I filed charges for the three individuals,” Francis said, while also providing a photograph of the injury on Patrick’s lip she took when he went to the police station on Monday, Sept. 9, at approximately 11 a.m. to give his account of the event.

“They were taken into custody, all three of them were mirandized, two respectfully declined, and I did speak with Deon,” Francis said, going on to state how Windham’s telling of the events from his perspective was “very vague” and led her to believe that what he was telling her, “wasn’t adding up.”

Following Francis’ testimony, Harry J. Cancelmi Jr., Timothy Michael Ross and Keith Emerick, who served as the defense attorneys for Scott, Wyckoff and Windham respectively, gave their closing statements and asked for a number of charges to be waived. Balint upheld all charges for all three defendants. 

For Scott, the charges include one count of simple assault; one count of harassment – subject other to physical contact; one count of harassment – follow in public place; and one count of burglary – overnight accommodations; person present, bodily injury crime. For Wyckoff, the charges include one count of burglary – overnight accommodations; person present, bodily injury crime; one count of criminal conspiracy engaging – simple assault; and one count of harassment – subject other to physical contact. For Windham, the charges include one count of burglary – overnight accommodations; person present, bodily injury crime; one count of criminal conspiracy engaging – simple assault; and one count of criminal conspiracy engaging – harassment – subject other to physical contact. 

All three defendants have been free on bond since posting on Sept. 10.