by Heather Niles

Created on: July 30, 2009   Last Updated: July 31, 2009

Apparently, "Stay Awake For Saftey's Sake" is not as important a rule as tresspassing for local community college." The Brockton campus of Massasoit Community College is banning an innocent man from their property for doing exactly what those big blue highway signs tell us to do every day. "Stay Awake. For Safety's Sake."

The subject of my article was resting his eyes in his car in the parking lot of the college after doing research in their library. Because a medication he's on makes him drowsy, he wanted to rest before driving so he wouldn't....oh I don't know....BE KILLED?! Because it was after hours, he was accused and arrested for trespassing even though a previous officer told him he was "technically doing nothing wrong."

He did not step foot on the property or cause any trouble during this 6 months so when the 6 months were up, he would be home free. (He was told the case would be dismissed). He was sorely mistaken, however, when he returned to the college and was very rudely informed that he was banned "indefinitely".

I have a question for Massasoit and for the officers who apprehended this young man. Would you rather have someone "trespass" for a few minutes and have the peace of mind of knowing that at least he was able to drive home safely or are you seriously going to say that it would've been better for him to leave drowsy, get into an accident and potentially be killed because you couldn't handle him being on your property for 5 extra minutes?!

I, for one, am disgusted that this has happened. We, as drivers, are always warned about driving tired and, as I mentioned, we are told by those big blue signs that if we are tired, we need to pull over and rest. Driving sleepy not only puts our own lives in danger but it endangers the lives of everyone else who is on the road with us.

I cannot believe that 'anyone' would treat someone this way for merely doing the safe thing. This man was not selling drugs or weapons in the parking lot. He was not having sex. He was not soliciting a prostitute. He was not vandalizing the school. He was merely resting his eyes so he would be okay to drive. As someone who lost a good friend of mine 11 years ago because he fell asleep while driving home, I commend this young man for doing the right thing so that he would be safe.

So, Massasoit, and officers involved with this, I think its shameful for you to condemn this man for only being safe. And just one more question. This man was informed by the Brockton court magistrate that there was nothing he could do about it because it's "their house".

Meaning Massasoit could stand by their decision to ban this man for absolutely no reason so here's my last question. If that's true.... if Massasoit can just ban anyone just because they don't feel like having them on their property, then what, pray-tell, was the sense of putting him on probation in the first place and putting him through the humiliation of an arrest and a record if, after the 6 months were up, Massasoit was not going to honor the decision and agree to let him back? Shame on you all!

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