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Scientist charged in scuffle with guard at Woods Hole lab

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane August 4, 2010 02:16 PM

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Editor's Note: The district attorney’s office dismissed all charges related to an assault and amended them to a misdemeanor charge of being a disorderly person. The disorderly charge was also dismissed on June 7, 2011 after a 6-month probation period and the performance of community service.

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

A Johns Hopkins University professor was arrested Sunday after he allegedly pushed a 61-year-old female security guard at a late-night party in a Woods Hole laboratory, Falmouth police said.

At 1:55 a.m., the guard attempted to break up a party in the Marine Biological Laboratory when Noah Cowan, 38, of Baltimore, Md., allegedly confronted her, said Falmouth Police Sergeant Douglas DeCosta.

The guard, whom police would not identify, told police Cowan came at her three times, pushing her at least twice, leaving red marks and a scratch on her right arm.

At one point, he asked her, “Do you know who I am?” she told police. “She took it as if he thought he was above the rules,” DeCosta said.

Cowan’s attorney, William Sullivan of Quincy, called the incident “an unfortunate misunderstanding and an exaggeration.”

“There was a discussion but there was no assault,” he said.

At 2:40 a.m., police arrived but could not find Cowan in the building. They found his car illegally parked outside and had it towed. At 9 a.m., Cowan rode a bicycle to the tow lot and was arrested.

He pleaded not guilty to assault and battery on a person over 60 years old at Falmouth District Court on Monday. He was released on personal recognizance and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 9.

Sullivan said 15 to 20 summer course students were drinking in a break room with permission from an administrator, but word of that permission being granted was never passed on to security. When the guard came, Sullivan said, Cowan and several others explained the situation to the guard, but Cowan did not assault her.

“We’ve interviewed upwards of 10 witnesses at this point,” Sullivan said, “and all of them agree that there was no assault.”

The guard asked partygoers to leave because they were drinking alcohol where it was not allowed, DeCosta said.

“While in the building, a large amount of liquor and liquor bottles were strewn throughout the various lounges and laboratories,” DeCosta read from the police report.

Cowan is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. He is the director of the Locomotion in Mechanical and Biological Systems Laboratory there, according to a university website, with interests that include robotics, computer vision, and biomechanics.

He just finished a summer course at the Woods Hole lab and is no longer on Cape Cod, Sullivan said. Cowan did not return messages left at his home and office.

Johns Hopkins officials declined to comment.

Andrea Early, spokeswoman for Marine Biological Laboratory, said, “We’re very concerned and we’re still gathering all the facts.”