Riot cases go to court

Wesley Plank entered court on Monday believing he was charged with a misdemeanor crime for his… Wesley Plank entered court on Monday believing he was charged with a misdemeanor crime for his involvement in last month’s Super Bowl riots. But the police withdrew the original charges for failure to disperse and instead charged the Pitt senior with arson, riot and causing or risking catastrophe, a felony crime with more serious punishment at stake. ‘We were both surprised,’ said Plank’s attorney, Turahn Jenkins. ‘We thought we’d be getting the same deal as everyone else.’ By everyone else, he means the 44 people accused of crimes related to the Super Bowl riots. Forty-one of them showed up in Pittsburgh’s Municipal Court Monday. Two pleaded innocent and will await later hearings, and seven pleaded guilty to harassment and paid a fine of $300, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Thirty-one others had the option of performing 50 hours of community service, the paper reported. Pitt’s Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs Robert Hill said he couldn’t confirm the details of the proceedings, or whether all of the 44 who attended hearings on Monday were Pitt students or elaborate on the details the hearings themselves. He said some of the people arrested were Pitt students and some weren’t. Pitt is pursuing disciplinary action against 26 students, including two that couldn’t be pursued because the students have since left Pitt, said Hill.