A university student charged with assaulting a police officer will not face trial as a result of miscommunication between county prosecutors and University Police while gathering evidence.

Junior environmental science and technology major John-Randall Shant Gorby, 21, was set to contest assault and disorderly conduct charges in a scheduled trail Monday. But the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s office dropped the charges, saying key evidence and witnesses from University Police were unavailable.

Gorby was accused of hitting a University Police officer in the face at 2 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, May 13.

The end of the case has left Gorby glad to have his name cleared but still unsettled by his experience. Meanwhile, University Police are unsure why the case didn’t go to trial.

State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said Assistant State’s Attorney Chinwe Kpaduwa chose to drop the case because she did not have access to all the evidence. Although Officer Min Pak was present in court, three other officers the prosecution asked for did not show up, and video evidence Kpaduwa wanted to review was not available in court.

Capt. John Brandt, a University Police spokesman, said he does not know of any reason the case was dropped. Brandt, the department’s court liaison officer, received only one subpoena for one officer: Pak.

“It’s off-setting to hear someone say we aren’t doing our jobs,” Brandt said. “There was one subpoena for one officer. It’s just a case of a defense attorney stirring the pot. But that’s also her job: To do what it takes to get the charges dropped.”

Ivey said the court itself issues summons in district cases, so the state’s attorney’s office did not have control over who was sent a summons, and could not confirm the officers were even sent summonses.

“This is an ongoing issue for us in a variety of cases,” Ivey added about the disconnect. “I wish I could say this is the only time this has happened, but it’s not.”

In preparation for trial, Gorby and his attorney, Rene Sandler, had two of the witnesses on call and asked for written statements by police and video footage as well as several police officers. For all intents and purposes, they were ready to make their case.

“There were no indications there was going to be anything but a trial,” Sandler said. “When I finally talked to the prosecutor last week, she didn’t say anything about dropping charges.”

Beyond the dispute between police and prosecutors, Gorby also said police ignored his complaint he was being robbed shortly before he punched the officer, which he admits to doing. Gorby was leaving Santa Fe Cafe and headed toward CVS when five men approached him and began attacking him, Gorby said. He believed the men intended to commit robbery. Two bystanders came to his aid, Gorby said.

Brandt said a plainclothes officer approached the scene to break up the fight. As he attempted to separate the combatants, Gorby struck him in the face.

Another plainclothes officer on the scene, Min Pak, saw Gorby hit his partner and arrested him. Gorby said he tried to tell Pak he was the victim of an attempted robbery, only to be ignored.

“I was trying to explain to them I was being attacked, but they just told me to be quiet,” Gorby said. “One of the people who attacked me was still in sight, but they didn’t care. They didn’t care that I was defending myself.”

The police report, authored by Pak, indicates the officer identified himself before he entered the fray, but Gorby said he had no idea. The report also said Gorby was intoxicated, fraying his thin credibility with the police.

Brandt said the university did review video related to the report of a robbery, but reviewers could not distinguish any unique features of some of the attackers fleeing the scene – not even race. He added any robbery investigation, based on the location of the crime, is within county jurisdiction, and University Police don’t necessarily have to pursue that investigation.

“Our case was not a robbery case or an assault case – one of our officers saw another officer get slugged in the face and arrested the guy,” Brandt said. “Whether he was defending himself or not doesn’t change the fact he hit a police officer. For us, this defense attorney claiming it was a robbery is a non-issue. Follow-up is the county’s job.”

Gorby said he had filed a report with Prince George’s County Police, but Prince George’s County spokesman Officer Evan Baxter could not confirm the report was within their records or whether any investigation had take n place.

Gorby said he’s satisfied with the outcome, although he still is upset it happened at all.

“I got what I wanted: I wanted justice,” Gorby said. “I feel like it should never have taken place, but I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. When those charges were dropped, I was just glad to be free.”

goondbk@gmail.com