Police Officers Knock Teenagers Onto Grill

Two mounted police officers in an attempt to break up a soccer team tailgate party outside Saturday's Harvard-Yale game knocked a teenage visitor onto a lit grill, leaving her stunned but uninjured.

Christine C. Morgan, the younger sister of Elizabeth G. Morgan '95, was hit from behind when the officers advanced into a crowd gathered around a barbecue just outside the stadium.

"I was standing by the grill when the horse came from behind and knocked me down," she said.

Morgan was knocked into the grill by the horse, tipped over the barbecue and fell on the hot coals. Morgan said she suffered no serious injuries and was not burned.

"I have a bruise on the top of my thigh, but it looks worse than it feels," she said.

Susan M. DeLellis '96, who was present at the party, said the two mounted police tried to break up the tailgaters, who were gathered on and around several cars just outside the stadium walls.

"One cop was moving his horse right into people," she said. "He was getting really angry and people were trying to get out of the way, but he kept turning."

The men's soccer team captain Jason P. Luzak '93, who also witnessed the incident, said he felt the police actions were not necessary.

"To force people out of a tailgate situation is one thing, but to have horses run through a mass of people, some of whom were hammered... It's one of the most ridiculous incidents I've ever seen," Luzak said.

Luzak said there were only about 100 people at the tailgate. But the attempts of the police actually increased the size of the crowd. "People wanted to watch the horses run through people," he said.

Trooper Kenneth Foley of the State Police Metropolitan Division said he knew nothing about Saturday's altercation.

But mounted police are often useful for crowd control, he said.

"It's much easier to survey a crowd when you're up on a horse than when you're onthe ground. It's much easier to get people tomove," Foley said.

Foley said state police usually send mountiesto football games only upon request, and that theofficers were at Harvard because of the largecrowd expected at Saturday's game.

Neither Harvard Police nor an official from thepolice district whose jurisdiction includesSoldier's Field would comment yesterday on theincident

Foley said state police usually send mountiesto football games only upon request, and that theofficers were at Harvard because of the largecrowd expected at Saturday's game.

Neither Harvard Police nor an official from thepolice district whose jurisdiction includesSoldier's Field would comment yesterday on theincident