Man denies assault on UMass student

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

AMHERST - A Brockton man accused of assaulting a female student at the University of Massachusetts led police on a short car chase early Saturday before being found in possession of a loaded pellet gun and being arrested for breaching a no-trespass order.

George L. Waugh, 20, of Brockton, pleaded innocent Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of trespassing, carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot) and disturbing the peace. Judge Mark Mason ordered him held without the right to bail and scheduled him to appear in court for a pretrial hearing April 7.

On Saturday at 4:39 a.m., officers from the UMass police department responded to a disturbance at Mary Lyon dormitory where students reported that a man had been banging on a dorm room door for about an hour and was threatening a female student inside, yelling, "Open the ... door or I'll knock it down," according to police. Waugh is not enrolled at the university.

The alleged victim told responding officers she had met Waugh at the beginning of February. She felt he was "trying to push a relationship on her," according to court documents.

She also told police Waugh was named in a no-trespass order for the campus after a Feb. 28 incident in which she said Waugh slapped her in the face while she was in his car and kicked her with a military-style combat boot as she tried to regain possession of a cell phone he ripped from her hands.

As Officer Mark Shlosser arrived on scene Saturday morning, he reportedly spotted Waugh leaving the dorm, running to his car and speeding away. When Shlosser activated his emergency lights and attempted to stop Waugh in an unmarked cruiser, he reportedly accelerated to 45 mph in a posted 20 mph zone before stopping about a half-mile later. During the motor vehicle stop, an officer reportedly found, in plain view, a loaded pellet pistol with a full cartridge and full magazine as well as a black night stick.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com