Wild ride leads to arrest of UMass students

By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer

AMHERST — Two UMass students are facing a slew of charges after they allegedly stole one of the college’s electric vehicles Tuesday night, rolled it down Orchard Hill in neutral and eventually crashed into a guardrail outside of Brooks dormitory before fleeing the scene.

The alleged driver, Edward F. Wolfersdorf, 19, of East Quogue, N.Y., pleaded innocent Wednesday in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of larceny of a motor vehicle, receiving a stolen motor vehicle, disorderly conduct, wanton destruction of property valued above $250, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury. While the alleged passenger, Matthew C. Burgess, also 19, of Cohasset, Mass., pleaded innocent to charges of larceny of a motor vehicle, receiving a stolen motor vehicle and disorderly conduct.

At 11:55 p.m., UMass police responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident between the Brooks dormitory and the New Africa House, both of which are located on Infirmary Way next to the campus’ Health Services building, according to court documents.

Responding officers reportedly found a yellow and white GEM battery-electric vehicle, which belonged to the university, crashed into the railing that runs along the sidewalk between the dorms.

Police reportedly spoke with several eye-witnesses who were able to offer descriptions of the two men and identify Burgess, who they said was injured in the crash when he hit his head on the windshield and was ejected from the vehicle. Because of the reported injuries, police went to Burgess’ dorm room in Baker dormitory where he was reportedly attempting to treat the minor injuries he sustained in the crash, according to court documents.

Burgess reportedly told police that he and Wolfersdorf had stolen the vehicle while it was parked outside of Baker dormitory and without turning it on, tried to drive it down Orchard Hill from Baker to Brooks. Both men suffered only minor injuries and neither were taken to the hospital, according to court documents.

Judge W. Michael Goggins released Wolfersdorf on $500 cash bail and Burgess was released on his own recognizance. Both men are scheduled to reappear in court for a pretrial hearing on Nov. 3.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com