You know what they say: It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.
That was certainly the case Friday on the campus of the University of Oregon, where football players planned a big snowball fight to celebrate the season's first, big snowfall.
It was all fun until students started to aggressively pelt the car of retired professor Sherwin Simmons. At one point, when Simmons steps out of the car to confront the crowd, one young man dumps a bunch of snow on his lap.
The Daily Emerald, a student-run news organization at the school, put out a video of the incident. Since then, it's been watched 2.2 million times and the school released a statement saying the University of Oregon Police Department is investigating.
"Police hope to determine the identities of those who were throwing snowballs, whether they are UO students and whether their actions constitute a criminal act," the school's dean of students, Paul Shang, said in a statement. "The University of Oregon takes the conduct of its students seriously. Consequences are clear for those whose actions reflect poorly upon the university or violate its standards for student behavior."
Offensive lineman Andre Yruretagoyena tweeted: "Embarrassed by the video I just watched. That's not all of us, sending the sincerest apologies."
The Emerald reports, however, that Simmons, who described the young people as "out of control," doesn't plan to press charges.
He told the paper: "I have confidence that the reaction of the university given what has happened will be proportional. It will consider these young people and their futures and will also, I hope, suggest to them that they need to rethink behavior like that."
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