Police don’t find dorm fire prank funny
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, May 13, 2009
HARTFORD, Conn. — Officials at Central Connecticut State University didn’t see the humor in this prank: burning bags of popcorn in a microwave in a crowded dorm in the middle of the night and tying some doors shut so residents think they’re trapped in a burning building.
Campus police say they arrested three teenagers who purposely burned the popcorn early Monday, setting off a fire alarm in the dorm shortly after 3 a.m.
No one was hurt in the incident in Vance Hall at the New Britain campus. University officials offered counseling to anyone who needed it.
University spokesman Mark McLaughlin said two bags of popcorn were in a microwave on the third floor, and about six room doors were tied shut with fishing line on the fourth and fifth floors.
But students were able to squeeze out because the line wasn’t tight, and the smoke apparently wasn’t much of a problem, he said.