Two students and one alumnus were arrested last month by the Waltham police on charges of drug possession, disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to a police report of the incident. Their arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Waltham District Court.Although the students, Meredith Ives '09, James Fruchterman '09 and Anderson "Knox" Thomas '07, don't dispute the charges, they said the officers were overly aggressive in their treatment of them and inaccurately reported the African-American alumnus' behavior during the arrest.

According to the report, Waltham officers arrived at 73 Highland St., Fruchterman's residence, the night of Friday, Sept. 14 after a neighbor called in with a noise complaint.

The Waltham police "got called there for disturbance . when they got there they discovered a loud party, and when they got there they could smell the marijuana coming from the apartment," Waltham Police Department spokesman Sgt. Tim King said.

Ives, thinking a friend was at the door, rushed to open it with a pipe of marijuana in her hand, she said. The two officers then ordered Fruchterman, Ives, the 25-year-old Thomas, and the 10 to 12 other Brandeis students in the house outside, Fruchterman said.

Once outside, Waltham officer Cory Amarante arrested Ives for possession. The incident report, given to the Justice by Ives, said that as Amarante "was double locking Ives' handcuffs Anderson Thomas [approached Amarante and Ives] flailing his arms in an aggressive manor and he began questioning why we were placing Ives under arrest."

Ives and Fruchterman said this description of Thomas' behavior is completely inaccurate.

Thomas couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

"My friend Knox . [saw that] I was crying, he was worried about me," she said.

Fruchterman said when the officer grabbed Ives and handcuffed her, Thomas stepped forward and asked why Ives was being arrested, and the police told him to back away.

"I want to know why she's being arrested, and I'd like you guys to not handle her roughly,'" Fruchterman paraphrased Thomas' request. "They immediately started telling him, 'You're threatening us. You're making threatening movements,'" Fruchterman said.

After explaining to the police that he was unarmed, Thomas was told again by the police to back away or else he would be arrested as well for interfering with Ives' arrest.

"They singled out the one large black man at the party and took him down," he said.

Ives agreed. "He was very polite. He was very by the book."

The incident report said, however, that Thomas approached the officers "in an aggressive manner and motioned as if he were going to pick up the pipe," at which point Amarante and Waltham officer Adam Lord advised Thomas to stay back and radioed the dispatch for more officers. Ives estimated that four additional officers arrived soon after.

"In this particular incident, you have a gentleman . approaching police in an aggressive manner," King said. "It's not a safe situation for the police, and it's not a safe situation for the students who were there.