LSU student arrested for 2017 Mardi Gras beating

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A LSU student is facing second-degree battery charges almost a year after he and three of his fraternity brothers were accused of beating a University of Louisiana at Lafayette student on the Uptown parade route last Mardi Gras, according to New Orleans Police. Collin Stevens, 20, was booked into Orleans Justice Center jail Monday (Jan. 29) on one count of second-degree battery, according to online court records. According to the warrant for Stevens' arrest, the victim was invited to hang out at Stevens' fraternity's tailgate on St. Charles Avenue near Constantinople Street on February 24, 2017. Awhile later, the victim said he was getting ice out of a cooler when he was approached by Stevens and three of his fraternity brothers. "You're not supposed to be in our cooler," the victim said the men told him, before they jumped him and started kicking and punching him, the warrant states. According to the warrant, the four men continued to beat the victim up until his friends came to break the fight up. During the fight, the victim's jaw was fractured, and he needed surgery to fix it, the warrant states. The victim told investigators he did nothing to instigate the fight, but stated there is an "ongoing feud," between his group of friends and the group of men who attacked him, according to the warrant. Although the victim said he is not friends with the four men, he stated he knows one man and Stevens from high school and another from middle school, the warrant states. He said he was invited to the tailgate by his friend, who is in the same fraternity but was not involved in the fight. Stevens was 19 years old at the time of the fight, according to the warrant, which was signed by Orleans Parish Magistrate commissioner Robert Blackburn on March 14, 2017. While the warrant said he was a LSU student at the time of the fight, it was not immediately clear Wednesday if he was still enrolled. According to the warrant, none of the four men accused in the beating have prior criminal records. Orleans Parish Magistrate Harry Cantrell set Stevens bond for $2,500 Tuesday, according to online court records. Attorney information was not immediately available. As of Wednesday evening, Stevens did not appear in online jail records and none of the other three accused appear to have been booked or charged in connection to the fight. Details about the circumstances of Stevens' arrest were not immediately available, nor was information about why nearly a year passed between the attack and his arrest.

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