ATLANTA — A Georgia State University student was arrested and banned from the school library after he was reportedly acting belligerent and sexually harassing fellow students and the library’s security officer.
Carnell Hopson, 24, became hostile when he was approached inside the library on Feb. 11, 2019, according to the Georgia State University Police Department. A security officer called police after reporting that Hopson became hostile after she asked him not to lean on her work station. Hopson allegedly threatened her, yelled obscenities and made sexually derogatory comments. The security officer asked him to leave, because she also observed him threatening other students and making sexually inappropriate comments to other students, the report said.
Police officers approached Hopson and immediately recognized him from previous encounters where he acted aggressively. He was wearing army fatigues and was large in stature, according to the report. When Hopson was asked about his encounter with the security officer, police said he became upset and refused to leave, stating he had done nothing wrong and needed to finish his homework.
Hopson refused to leave and started walking around the library and yelling obscenities, the report stated. Police said he tried to use another student as a shield to obstruct the officers from placing him in handcuffs. He refused to comply even after an officer threatened to tase him, according to the report.
Hopson was eventually handcuffed and arrested for obstruction of a law enforcement officer and he was issued a criminal trespass warning, which bans him from both north and south GSU libraries.
On October 28, 2019, Hopson pleaded guilty to obstruction of a law enforcement officer, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to a supplemental case report from GSU. He was sentenced to 6 months' probation and ordered to seek mental health treatment, that report stated.
Security at GSU libraries has beefed up over the years following a string of armed robberies in 2016, which police believed were all committed by the same person.
Joseph Spillane, chief of police for Georgia State University Police, said that there are biometric scanners and extra security personnel monitoring cameras at the campus libraries. He told 11Alive that visitors have to sign in, using photo ID.
Spillane said officers walk through the library every hour and meet with library management frequently to keep students safe.
"We have very few issues at the Libraries," Spillane said. "The person arrested (Copeland) was a student, so (he) had access to the libraries, which has been revoked at this time."
Editor's note: This story was edited in May 2020 with an update on Hopson's plead and his sentence.
