A man unaffiliated with Columbia was arrested on campus Wednesday by officers from the NYPD's 26th Precinct after he was observed behaving irrationally.
The individual, described as a male in his twenties, was spotted behaving strangely near Lerner Hall by officers from the Department of Public Safety.
Public Safety had previously ordered the individual not to enter the the University's campus. "He was already a persona non grata, which was why the police were called in the first place," Associate Vice President for Public Safety James McShane said on Wednesday.
When officers from the Department of Public Safety responded and attempted to transport the man to Public Safety headquarters, he became agitated and violent.
"He struggled and actually bit one of our Public Safety Security Officers," McShane said.
An emergency service unit from the 26th Precinct responded to the altercation and took the man into custody for processing and evaluation.
Soon afterward, the individual was turned over to medical personnel for further monitoring, McShane said. "It was determined that the individual was an emotionally disturbed person, and he was transported to a local hospital."