The annual “Pig Roast” held at The Heights apartment complex on Saturday sparked the attention of state police and many news outlets, as the event was deemed ‘out of control.’
“This was a party that got too big, too quickly and the police had to step in to shut it down before it got out of control and something tragic happened,” said Rita Abent, director of public relations at Slippery Rock.
She clarified that the party was not affiliated with SRU and did not happen on campus. She said that this was not a riot and fights did not break out, as other media outlets have indicated.
Justin Hopf, 20-year-old sophomore safety management major, said that there was no pig at the roast.
“I saw security walking around, but I didn’t see that many police,” he said. “A girl was on a basketball hoop and went face-first into the crowd, but police were there to catch her.”
Angela Corey, 20-year-old double political science and philosophy major, said that there were a lot of state troopers at the pig roast and security had everything under control.
Veneza Crespo, 19-year-old public health major, said the event was overwhelming, but that it was fun at the same time.
“I saw a fight. We were in the courtyard in the middle of The Heights and everyone was running into the corner,” Veneza said. “Two girls were fighting, but it was broken up pretty fast.”
Twenty-year-old sophomore dance major Caris Costantino said it was unnecessary for the paramedics to come.
“This one girl got dropped off by her boyfriend and was taken right away by paramedics even though she was fine,” Costantino said.
Abent said that the police were well prepared.
“It’s unfortunate that several participants, many non-SRU students, did not exercise good judgment when consuming alcohol and will now have to deal with the consequences of their behavior,” Abent said.
The @PigRoast_2K15 Twitter account was deactivated on Monday.
Several images and videos of the event have been circulating through social media platforms like Twitter.
State police and the manager of The Heights were not available for comment.
