Yik Yak threat student speaks on controversy
Emeil Stewart gives his side to the Yik Yak threats.
September 11, 2015
The UP reached out to accused student Emeil Stewart regarding his situation Wednesday evening after police held a news conference and released the police report on the Yik Yak threat case.
“I didn’t want to start the uproar I did,” said Stewart about the post he made on Yik Yak on Tuesday evening.
Stewart was suspended Tuesday night and is no longer attending the school.
His interim suspension bans him from stepping foot onto any FAU campus, according to the FAU police report.
The former freshman neuroscience student said he made the post after skateboarding past two students, overhearing them talking about shooting up the Breezeway earlier in the day.
“I actually overheard the threat and didn’t want to go to the police because I was unsure, so I indirectly lied on Yik Yak and said ‘a friend texted it’ to know if people would report it even if it isn’t 100 percent sure,” explained Stewart.
“However I did not want to go to the police and risk them going crazy so my mistake was posting it on yak when I shouldn’t have,” he said. “So yes I deserve to be kicked off campus but to call me a killer when I just wanted to be safe, now (sic) i’m mad.”
Stewart said he deleted the initial yak 30 seconds after posting it because of the initial reception it received on the app.
“They might have been joking and I was on the [longboard],” Stewart said. “So I wasn’t sure.”
Stewart was accused with posting suspicious messages on Yik Yak and later came forward to the police at about 9:18 p.m., the report states.
“They never arrested me, they couldn’t.” Stewart said. “I didn’t make a threat, if I did they would have arrested [me] on [the] spot.”
Stewart says his suspension from campus probably alleviated fears of a shooting threat.
“The school probably had to get rid of the unease,” he said. “And since I didn’t know who it was…. someone had to go. Once the media got involved and it was over for me.”
King said in the news conference they are currently working to help Stewart get home to Port Charlotte, Florida.
Ryan Lynch is the sports editor for the University Press. For tips regarding this or other articles, he can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter.
Emeil Stewart • Apr 25, 2016 at 4:33 pm
*lack of sleep
Emeil Stewart • Apr 25, 2016 at 4:32 pm
*of my actions
Emeil Stewart • Apr 25, 2016 at 4:30 pm
Kaibelf, I would like to answer your questions and concerns of the event that transpired back in September. The first thing mentioned was lack of personal responsibility which I always try my best to hold myself accountable as my actions, as it clearly states, “So my mistake was posting it on yak when I shouldn’t have.” However, I am sorry for any signs of incoherance in my dialect as you can understand what occured could have resulted in a huge detriment in my life and so I am sorry if my sentences didn’t come out as clear as they should have in the 24+ hours of sleep. You also asked how I am in that school, and why am I studying neuroscience and that’s a great question! I am very passionate about neuroscience even to the point of drafting my own hypothesis on what the consciousness is and how it pertains to matter since I was seven, if you’d like more information on that you can email me at [email protected]. I was very fortunate to get into FAU and even the smartest people make mistakes. I hope I answered your questions to your satisfaction.
Kaibelf • Sep 12, 2015 at 8:43 pm
Not one ounce of taking personal responsibility in these statements. Passing the buck, I suppose, is this guy’s answer? Also, this guy seems to struggle with putting together a sentence. How is he in that school, and why is he studying neuroscience?