Naked Ithaca College student tries taking police officer's gun while on LSD, records show

Ithaca, N.Y. -- Peter Rose was driving down South Cayuga Street on May 17 when a naked man ran in front of his vehicle.

It was an Ithaca College student: Derek Deboer, 20, high on LSD and pot, according to police.

Rose crashed into Deboer. Police were called to the scene, at 123 South Cayuga Street. Deboer recovered and began walking away from the scene.

Police found him on the 100 block of North Cayuga Street.

“Officers attempted to stop the defendant to investigate the accident and address the issue of (Deboer's) exposure when he began to run full speed away from police,” Ithaca police Officer Barry Banfield said in court papers.

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Deboer ran toward Green Street, court documents say.

“The defendant did run at least two blocks while exposing his genitals to public view,” Officer Sarah Crews said in court documents.

The officers caught up with Deboer and tried to grab him. Deboer began struggling with Officer Crews.

He looked at her gun -- a Glock Model 22 -- “and did grasp the handgun with his right hand and pull on it in an attempt to remove the handgun from its holster,” Officer Crews said in court papers.

“The (officer's) training and experience supports the position that a person's attempt to take an officer's handgun indicates such person's intent to use said handgun against that officer,” Officer Crews said.

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Deboer was hit with a Taser, subdued and taken to the hospital.

“The subject was flailing as Officer Crews attempted to gain control of him from behind," another officer said in court papers.

Deboer, of 1411 Pine Street in Key West, Fla., has since been charged with two felonies: attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and attempted robbery in the third degree.

He also faces the misdemeanor charge of obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and two violations: public appearance under the influence of drugs and/or narcotics and exposure of a person.

Deboer currently faces no judicial action from Ithaca College and is still enrolled as a student, David Maley, associate director of media relations at the college, said in an interview last week.

The day after the incident, police officers interviewed Deboer.

He admitted to taking LSD and marijuana and drinking, records show.

"When did you start drinking?," the officer asks. Deboer nodded in response.

Police first became involved around 8:15 p.m. on May 17 when officers were dispatched to the Lighthouse Pier area following a report of a person in the water.

An Ithaca police lieutenant was at the Treman marina when he saw and reported a person on the pier "yelling and screaming for help,” Lt. Vincent Monticello wrote in a May 17 media release.

The person yelling was a friend of Deboer’s. Rescue vessels that searched the water found clothes along the pier but no person, according to a press release.

Forty-five minutes later, police received a call from Rose, who reported hitting Deboer.

After his release from Cayuga Medical Center, Deboer was taken into custody on May 19 around 1 a.m. in a house on North Plain Street.

No court date has been set, although the city court has established a “control date” in November, by which time the prosecution and the defense must report on the status of their cases.

Deboer did not return email requests for a comment.