Mr. Rick Rukus, a twenty-three-year-old, student at Duke University was involved in two incidents, at two locations, with Mr. Frank “The Tank” Jones. There was a basketball game between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Mr. Rukus, an avid basketball fan, went to the game with three fellow students. The Four young men decided to go to the Waffle House Near UNC for a “pre-game meal”.
Mr. Rukus and his friends, while at Waffle House, engaged in a light-hearted exchange of taunts with three male students from UNC. It remained friendly until one of the members of Mr. Rukus’ party “made unflattering comments about the UNC cheerleaders.” Unbeknownst to them, one of the UNC students they were engaging was the older brother of one of the cheerleaders. Mr. Frank “The Tank” Jones, the brother of the cheerleader, demanded an apology. However, Mr. Rukus stood up for his friends and not only stated that they would not apologize, he added some unfavorable descriptions of the UNC cheerleaders himself. Mr. Rukus’ statements aggravated the situation, the two men began arguing, getting progressively louder, till the two were face to face and the manager of the Waffle House threatened to call the police if they didn’t stop. They both stopped “shoving” each other but the manager called the police anyway. …show more content…
The fraternity house was located on UNC land; however, the house was owned by the fraternity, a private non-profit entity. While passing the house, Mr. Rukus saw Mr. Jones and he shouted a comment about UNC’s cheerleaders. An offended, Mr. Jones, challenged Mr. Rukus to come over and say it again. Mr. Rukus walked up to Mr. Jones and the two again became engaged in a heated verbal exchange. While they argued, they moved to the front porch of the fraternity house and eventually ended up inside of the