The man who made veiled threats against NIC no longer has warrants out for his arrest.
It was revealed that the warrants out for Patrick Ryan Budig, 33, Spokane, had already been cleared before the incident that caused a cross-state search for the man.
Campus Security Officer Patrick Murray said the confusion was caused by miscommunication from Washington courts.
Despite this development, Murray said that Budig will remain banned from stepping on campus property and that Coeur ‘d’Alene police officers will maintain a small presence on campus for now.
“Before this he was already on notice for unrelated events. Some of the things precipitated [the threats] and it just kind of snowballed,” Murray said.
NIC has drawn criticism from students and community members for not immediately informing the public of the potential danger from Budig.
Graydon Stanley, vice president of student services, said college administrators decided to not immediately send notice to students as part of an on going effort to cooperate with police.
Stanley said after receiving a report from a counselor at an off-campus disability center, on Friday Sept. 14, that Budig said he was unhappy with service he had received at NIC and that he now understood “why Columbine happened,” and that he would be read about in the news, police briefly questioned Budig before deeming him not to be a threat to himself or others
Administrators then cautioned several groups that were holding events over that weekend about Budig.
It was during this time that the Coeur d’Alene police department received information about warrants for 3rd Degree Assault with a Weapon and his prior arrests for intimidating a judge, forgery and multiple assaults.
On Monday police stationed themselves on campus, the surrounding streets, and cooperated with the Spokane Police Department to try and ensnare Budig if he decided to appear in class that day.
Stanley said that officials would have cancelled classes if they had felt Budig was a real threat, and that there were multiple failsafe’s in place in the event that he managed to slip onto campus.
“For every one [police officer] that you saw, there was an additional one you wouldn’t have recognized. They were here in plain clothes,” Stanley said. “We had an incredibly strong presence on campus. If he had chosen to come here, he never wouldn’t have made it.”
