Konrad Dudziak, a senior on the wrestling team, was arrested on campus Friday night for driving while impaired, unsafe motion and possession of a weapon on an educational property.
Assistant Chief Gloria Graham of the Duke University Police Department said the incident occurred when DUPD was called for noise complaints after which Dudziak fled the scene in a car.
“We got a call that a number of individuals were being loud and drinking and perhaps intoxicated and that there might have been some indecent exposure,” Graham said.
As of Sunday afternoon, Dudziak had been suspended indefinitely from the wrestling team, pending results of legal and Student Affairs protocol, said Assistant Sports Information Director Meredith Rieder.
According to the DUPD police brief, Dudziak was pulled over behind the Sociology/Psychology building where he was taken into custody for driving under the influence of alcohol. During this time, the police reported to have found a large knife in the vehicle near the driver’s seat and charged Dudziak for having a weapon on campus.
“Oftentimes we’re not going to charge you if it’s just a standard knife or a kitchen knife,” Graham said. “But this was clearly a large knife, and it was in the vehicle in reach of the student.”
Graham said the officers had reasonable suspicion of intoxication and as a result conducted a field sobriety test. Dudziak was detained by DUPD and released from jail on $5,000 bail.
Dudziak, who was unavailable to comment on the incident, was voted Duke’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for 2008-09, became Duke’s first All-American wrestler last year and was the NCAA runner-up and ACC champion at heavyweight.
Both DWIs and weapon charges for students are uncommon, Graham said.
“We don’t have many [DWIs], I’m thinking maybe a handful a year,” Graham said. “For the most part, frankly, our kids use the buses and take taxis, so it’s not one of those things we identify as one of our top 10 problems. That being said, we do know that people do make a choice to drive after they’ve been drinking, this is just one of those instances.”
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