Stabbing Med For Depression 09/10/2009 Colorado 20 Year Old Stabs U. of Colorado Student: Charged with Assault Summary:

Paragraph 10 reads:  "Schaefer told police his friend had problems controlling his temper and took medication for depression and anxiety. He said he saw Beitz take a knife from the kitchen. He tried to calm Beitz down, but Beitz left the room with the knife.

Paragraph 3 reads:  "Beitz is charged with first-degree assault, obstruction and third-degree assault on a police officer in the Oct. 3 incident. Police said he was belligerent and tried to head-butt an officer when they arrested him."


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Suspect: Stabbing came after Robin Hood game

Witnesses tell different story in stabbing of CU student

By Erica Meltzer Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 10/09/2009 11:07:10 PM MDT
Leo Beitz

An Illinois man accused of stabbing his friend's roommate in a Boulder apartment last weekend told police the stabbing occurred accidentally as the three men were acting out a scene from "Robin Hood: Men in Tights."

But according to the police report, two witnesses told a different version of events. They said Leo Beitz, 20, of Rolling Meadows, Ill., simply grabbed a knife and stabbed 21-year-old Parker Chase Rolles, a University of Colorado student, with no provocation.

Beitz is charged with first-degree assault, obstruction and third-degree assault on a police officer in the Oct. 3 incident. Police said he was belligerent and tried to head-butt an officer when they arrested him.

According to the police report, Beitz came to Boulder to visit his childhood friend, John Schaefer, Rolles' roommate. The three men and another friend, Blake Floreani, went out drinking, then returned to their apartment in the 1100 block of Lincoln Place to play video games and hang out.

Once Beitz was in custody, he told police he drank two shots and 10 beers over the course of the evening. He said the stabbing occurred because "They had been pretending like the movie 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights,'" the report said.

Beitz told police he had the knife to pretend it was a sword. He said he went outside to smoke a cigarette, put the knife in his back pocket and forgot about it. When he went back inside, he and the victim were wrestling and the victim jumped on him from behind and was stabbed by the knife sticking out of his back pocket, the report said.

He could not explain to police how Rolles had been stabbed twice -- once in the abdomen and once in the groin -- by the knife sticking out of his pocket.

Beitz also told police Schaefer "was like a brother to him," and he was mad because he felt Schaefer was taking the side of his new friends against him, the report said.

The men had engaged in some wrestling and roughhousing, and Beitz said there was some talk about who was better or stronger.

Schaefer told police his friend had problems controlling his temper and took medication for depression and anxiety. He said he saw Beitz take a knife from the kitchen. He tried to calm Beitz down, but Beitz left the room with the knife.

Floreani, the other friend, told police he was sitting in Rolles' room with Rolles when Beitz walked in. He didn't see Beitz stab Rolles, but Rolles started screaming. He said he didn't see or hear anything that would have provoked Beitz, the report said.

A friend drove Rolles to the hospital, where he needed surgery to stop the bleeding.

He told police he didn't want to press charges and didn't want anybody to have a felony record, the report said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355 or meltzere@dailycamera.com .