Luna Peck, left corner, pours water onto a speaker playing the U.S. national anthem on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Michael Drapeau/CU Independent)
A graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder is facing charges of harassment and theft following an incident that occurred at the University Memorial Center Tuesday afternoon.
According to a court affidavit, the student, Luna Peck, allegedly threw water at one student and stole another’s speaker. These students were involved in a separate event in the same location.
The incident occurred about one hour into the “Day of Resistance” rally organized by Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine. No one involved in the incident was affiliated with Boulder SJP.
Several individuals arrived at the Dalton Trumbo Fountain Court outside the UMC, where the rally was being held, around 12:32 p.m. This group began playing the national anthem on one student’s speaker while waving a small American flag.
Roughly eight seconds into the song, the students playing the national anthem said Peck approached the group. According to the affidavit, Peck threw water on one of these students and ran off with another student’s speaker.
Another member of the group chased after Peck. During the pursuit, Peck threw the speaker into the air and maneuvered around the person chasing them to escape.
A member of the group playing the national anthem chases after Peck and the speaker. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 (Ainsley Coogan/CU Independent)
Roughly eight minutes after the incident began, the CU Boulder Police Department arrested Peck. They were taken to the Boulder County jail, where they were booked and released. Peck currently faces charges of harassment by physical contact and theft between $300 and $1000. The speaker was valued at $350.
In an email to the CU Independent, Peck said they “regret what occurred.”
Tanner Egloff, the president of CU Boulder’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative political advocacy organization, was part of the group playing the national anthem.
While one member of the group called their actions a “protest,” Egloff claimed they were just showing patriotism and had not planned for their actions to coincide with the rally.
“There wasn’t any goal in particular. I think a group of guys wanted to get together and fly the American flag around, play the national anthem and sing along,” Egloff said. “We noticed there was a good amount of people outside and thought ‘no better time than the present.'”
A representative for Boulder SJP said that they did consider Egloff’s group’s actions to be a counter-protest. The representative also said Peck was not a member of Boulder SJP. They could not say with certainty if Peck had attended Boulder SJP events in the past.
In multiple photos taken by the CU Independent, Peck appears in the audience of the rally before the incident.
Luna Peck, grey hoodie at the bottom right, attends the Boulder SJP Day of Resistence rally at 12:08 p.m., 24 minutes before they threw water on one student and stole another student’s speaker. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
The SJP representative expressed disappointment towards the university. They claimed that multiple Boulder SJP members have filed reports of harassment and stalking with CUPD, but have not seen any action by the department.
“We don’t condone any actions taken against the counter-protesters but… the way that this university, both as an institution and as a police force through CUPD, takes political action in deciding who to prosecute is very concerning to Boulder SJP,” the representative said.
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Lincoln Roch at lincoln.roch@colorado.edu.
