A Shippensburg University student remains in prison after being arrested early last week and charged with multiple felonies and other offenses in two separate incidents on campus.

The student, Caleb M. Hull, 22, was charged initially on Feb. 12 with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest, according to Shippensburg University Police Department (SUPD) arrest logs. After ignoring an order not to return to campus, Hull was arrested a second time on Feb. 14 and charged with evading arrest, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing.

Shortly before midnight on Feb. 11, Hull entered the fourth-floor lounge of McLean Hall, where a small group of residents was socializing. Hull “began to engage in inappropriate touching of one of the males,” according to court documents. After being asked to leave, Hull allegedly punched another student in the face, which led to an “active fight” and a call to SUPD.

Two SUPD officers responded to the third floor of McLean around midnight to search for Hull after a separate complaint was made about him yelling and slamming doors, according to police documents. The officers made their way down the hall toward Hull’s room. Hull saw the officers, ran back into his room and refused to open the door.

Officers unlocked the door and entered the room to protect McLean residents “from further criminal activity by this suspect,” according to court documents. As they opened the door, Hull tried to slam it shut and “attempted to crush” one officer in the doorframe. As Hull repeatedly resisted arrest both verbally and physically and concerns for officer safety grew, SUPD officers requested backup from Pennsylvania State Police (PSP).

SUPD officers managed to get one handcuff on Hull before he began kicking them. An SUPD officer drew his Taser and struck Hull in the back, police records said. Hull continued to resist and was tased again for about three seconds, according to court documents. This moment was captured in a video posted to the Ship 2027 Snapchat story, in which Hull can be heard saying “tase me” before the Taser is deployed.

Once Hull was in handcuffs, two SUPD officers and two PSP troopers carried Hull down the hallway and out of the building into an SUPD vehicle. This moment was captured in another video posted to the Ship 2027 Snapchat story.

“Once officers were able to subdue the individual, they continued to resist, and officers had to carry the individual out of the building,” said Megan Silverstrim, SU director of communications and marketing. 

SUPD said the decision to tase Hull was made under the use-of-force continuum, a law enforcement policy that guides appropriate responses to certain situations. The continuum instructs that any escalation must go from officer presence to verbalization to use of bodily force, then to less lethal force, which includes conducted energy devices like Tasers, according to the National Institute of Justice. The final level in the use-of-force continuum is lethal force. 

Hull was transported to Carlisle Regional Medical Center, then taken to Cumberland County Central Booking in Carlisle, Silverstrim said.

After making bail for his initial arrest, Hull returned to campus about 5 p.m. on Feb. 14 despite being “issued a no trespass notice and warned multiple times” not to come to campus without an SUPD escort, according to police records.

Two SUPD and three Shippensburg Borough Police officers responded to McLean Hall, where they were told Hull left as they arrived and walked toward the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) in the center of campus. Officers began patrolling campus and saw Hull between the CUB and Lehman Library, but lost track of him as he entered the academic quad. 

Officers then saw Hull on foot outside Wright Hall and “a foot pursuit ensued,” according to police records. Borough police deployed a Taser, but it failed because the barbs did not make contact with Hull’s body. As the pursuit continued, an SUPD officer “tackled him in the snow” outside Shippen Hall, police records said.

Hull was taken to Cumberland County Prison, where he remained in custody as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to a public list of the facility’s inmates. 

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