Police handcuffed and cited several students after they fled during a drug bust on the American River levee last week, the third incident involving dorm residents and possession of marijuana in a week.

The incident happened during a random night patrol on the levee.

Campus police officers found four people smoking marijuana. Upon hearing a noise, three dorm residents fled from the police, ran down the levee and jumped a fence to get away, leaving one behind, said Public Information Officer John Hamrick.

Campus police detained Frank Gould, 20, and Richard Maclachlan, 19, after finding the two possessed one joint and one beer, Hamrick said.

“My friends and I went to the levee and were just hanging out. We had one beer, then cops came and we ran. They caught us, put me in handcuffs and said they were arresting us. They cited us and said we were on probation,” Gould said.

Gould said he is on probation for a minor in possession of alcohol charge. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 23.

Hamrick said that Gould’s case is treated as a citation, the same way as a traffic violation is treated, and will impose a currently undeclared monetary penalty on the two boys. Gould was cited for a moving violation since he ran from the police. Gould and Maclachlan are not on criminal probation or academic probation, but are advised to stay off the levee with illicit substances.

Police officials said they handcuffed the students because they ran.

State law and campus policy forbid possession of illegal drugs on campus. Policy states violators may be suspended or expelled.

Vice President of Student Affairs Shirley Uplinger said the American River levee is considered off-campus property, and that loophole means Gould and Maclachlan are not subject to suspension or expulsion from the university.

“We don’t get involved if the infraction is off campus. It becomes strictly a court case. If it is on campus, then we get involved,” Uplinger said.

When university police find a minor with illegal substances such as marijuana or alcohol, the offender usually receives a citation and nothing more. The police always seize drugs, regardless of the crime, Hamrick said.

Federal and state law conflict regarding marijuana possession.

“There is a state law, Proclamation 215, that states if you have a doctor’s note for medicinal purposes that possession is all right. Yet federal law states it is an infraction to possess marijuana. It is the equivalent technically of a moving violation,” said Ken Barnett, Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety.

The infraction is handled as a moving violation. The courts handle the offense the same as they would a moving violation, Barnett said.

“Students must be responsible for themselves. If you are convicted of a drug incident and get convicted of a drug conviction, financial aid is not accessible to the student,” said Eric Guerra, President of Associated Students, Inc.

Drugs are almost always confiscated at the scene of the crime, Hamrick said. After they are confiscated and booked in an evidence room, they sit in the evidence room until the appropriate approval is received from the District Attorney’s office and a Supreme Court judge must approve the request to destroy drugs, he said.