David Piegaro ’25 Found Not Guilty of Post-Clio Hall Altercation

Editor's note: This article has been updated with reaction from the University and David Piegaro ’25.

David Piegaro ’25, a former president of the University’s Student Veterans Association, was found not guilty of simple assault on Tuesday. Piegaro had been accused of pushing and grabbing Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Kenneth Strother at Whig Hall on April 29, 2024, the same day pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Clio Hall.

Piegaro’s two-day trial was held in Princeton Municipal Court in February and was presided over by Judge John McCarthy III ’69. In announcing the verdict, McCarthy said Piegaro “reflected poor judgement,” but rather than intending to inflict damage, his actions “appear to be focused entirely on entering Whig Hall.” McCarthy, who told Piegaro to consider the situation a lesson, also suggested but did not mandate that Piegaro apologize.

During the trial, two accounts emerged of what transpired during what was later referred to by Strother in a report as a “tense time.” Piegaro was arrested at the bottom of the steps of Whig Hall mere minutes after pro-Palestinian protesters were released from Clio Hall next door, while hundreds of activists and onlookers swarmed the area chanting and shouting. Piegaro said he was in the area to document the pro-Palestinian protest as a “citizen journalist.”

In his testimony, Strother described having a conversation with Max Weiss, a professor at Princeton, and Zia Mian, a senior research scholar at Princeton and co-director of the Program in Science and Global Security, on Cannon Green when Piegaro approached and began recording. Strother said Piegaro followed the group up the steps of Whig Hall, which Strother said he had previously ordered closed due to the protest activity, but later testimony by Piegaro and Emily Paulin ’25, then the vice president of the Whig-Cliosophic Society, contradicted that the building was closed. As Piegaro tried to cross the threshold, Strother described putting out his arm in an attempt to prevent Piegaro’s entry, allegedly leading to the student “pushing and grabbing” Strother. Strother said he was not injured but uncomfortable and surprised, and found it “hard to control” Piegaro, so he let go, leading Piegaro to allegedly fall down some of the front steps leading up to Whig.

Several Department of Public Safety employees, as well as Mian, gave testimony that mostly supported Strother’s account of the events.

When Piegaro was called by defense attorney Gerald Krovatin to testify, he said he didn’t recognize Strother at the time and did not know he was affiliated with law enforcement, instead assuming that he was a University dean. It is not in question that Strother was wearing a suit, not a uniform, and didn’t have any obvious physical sign that he was a member of law enforcement on the date in question. In a video Piegaro recorded as he followed Strother, Weiss, and Mian up the steps, Piegaro asks Strother for his name and position, and Strother does not respond. Due to the camera’s movement and positioning, it’s not clear what happens next, but at the end of the 27-second video, Piegaro clearly said, “Don’t touch me.”

Piegaro said he had not been told Whig was closed and in fact had gone into the building earlier that evening for a short period without issue. In later testimony, Paulin said the Whig-Cliosophic Society had a senior roast scheduled to take place in Whig Hall around the same time as the incident, and that she and others had accessed the building without issue throughout the evening and were never told it was closed.

Piegaro alleged it was actually Strother who first touched him by grabbing him and lifting him up, but he couldn’t exactly say what had happened. “He comes over to me, grabs a hold of me, lifts me up, turns me, and drops or throws me down the stairs at Whig Hall,” Piegaro said in court testimony. He complained of rib and head pain and went by ambulance to the hospital that night where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

Princeton molecular biology graduate student Sarah Kwartler, who was described by the defense as a neutral eyewitness, took the stand to testify that while her head was turned during part of the incident, she saw Strother “holding David horizontally, kind of like a pair of [open] scissors.” According to Kwartler, Strother then released Piegaro, who “began rolling down the stairs of Whig Hall on his side.”

Through a University spokesperson, Strother declined to comment. University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill told PAW, “The university is not a party to — and has not intervened in — those court proceedings, though the university has consistently said that it supports an outcome that would minimize the impact of the arrest on these individuals.”

She added, “The university has no comment on the separate charges filed against an individual in connection with his interaction with a police officer.”

On the night of the incident, Piegaro was charged with four counts: aggravated assault on a police officer in the fourth degree; unlicensed entry of structures, also known as trespassing, which is a disorderly persons offense; obstruction of administration of law or government function in the fourth degree; and resisting arrest by physical force or violence in the third degree.

The charges were reduced months later — obstruction of law and resisting arrest were dropped, and the aggravated assault charge was reduced to simple assault. The trespassing charge remained.

Just prior to closing arguments, municipal prosecutor Christopher Koutsouris made a motion to drop the trespassing charge, which McCarthy granted, saying, “I could not agree with that more.”

In a statement to PAW, Piegaro wrote: "Since Oct. 7, [2023,] the campus environment has been difficult for many Jewish students. The events of April 29 were a low point. I tried to report on what happened that day and was assaulted for it. It’s been an extraordinarily difficult year, but I’m grateful for the support of the Princeton Jewish Community, as well as for the support of my friends and family. I have always believed the truth and the evidence were on my side, that’s why I rejected multiple plea deals. I’m relieved by the verdict, eager to finish my thesis, and  proud to live in a country where constitutional protections and due process of law matter.

"Princeton University has generously provided me, and many other enlisted veterans, with the opportunity to rise above our station. I remain grateful for that. Still, I’ve been surprised at and disappointed in how the university has dealt with this situation. For the past year, university officials have seemed less interested in figuring out the truth of what happened at Whig and more interested in covering up serious misconduct."

The 13 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied Clio Hall last April are set to head to court in June to face charges of defiant trespassing.