A sweet victory turned into a destructive rush Saturday after Iowa State’s Homecoming victory over Baylor University, 27-14.

A dozen people were arrested by the Ames Police, the Department of Public Safety and the Iowa State Patrol, and a few people were injured as hundreds of elated fans rushed onto the field after the victory and the goal post was taken down and paraded to Lake LaVerne, causing more vandalism along the way.

Of the 12, eight were cited for criminal trespassing, three were charged with public intoxication and one was charged with aggravated assault, interference with official acts, criminal trespassing and public intoxication.

All 12 arrested were male.

Jerry Stewart, assistant director of public safety, said they received a report of someone with a broken hand or wrist and another report of a broken arm.

Patrick Forinash, a senior in mechanical engineering, was one of the people cited for criminal trespassing. A picture of him being handcuffed by three officers appeared on the front page of the Metro Iowa section of the Des Moines Sunday Register.

Forinash said he was in the stands when everyone was pushing down. “I was getting smashed, so I kind of got up over the wall,” he said.

He said police were telling people to stay in the stands, but fans were already tearing the goal post down. Forinash said he ran toward the goal post and was “tackled” by police.

After lying handcuffed on the field for about a half hour, Forinash said he and the others arrested were taken into the Jacobson Athletic Building, where he was cited and released.

“There was probably several hundred people on the field,” Forinash said.

He said he doesn’t see how the police could single some people out. He said with all the destruction caused by other fans, he doesn’t think just running on the field compares.

“I don’t think what I did should be considered a crime,” he said. “We haven’t won a game for how long?”

President Martin Jischke stressed he was concerned about the safety of people rushing the field.

“I was relieved that no one was seriously injured,” he said.

Jischke said he saw one person get hit by the goal post as it was being taken down.

He said he understands the students were excited. However, there are better ways to display this exuberance, he said.

“The police officers were just doing their job,” Jischke said. It was a difficult job to try to make that many people stay in the stands, he said.

ISU alumnus Robert Yeates, class of 1956, was also cited for criminal trespassing. Yeates, a resident of West Des Moines, 64, was the oldest person cited.

Yeates said he walked across the field and was “standing where [the officers] were beating on all the guys fairly heavily” when someone told him to get down on the ground.

Yeates said he saw a man laying on his stomach with three officers trying to handcuff him, one of whom was “hammering on his arm.”

Yeates said he was not forced to the ground by officers.

“I thought [the police effort] was kind of ridiculous,” Yeates said. “The goal post was already down.”

Yeates and Forinash will both go to court Thursday for their citations.

Stewart said, “The officers are positioned at the field to help avert any incidents of personal injury or property damage.”

He said the officers were not acting unfairly and were doing what they felt was best.

DPS supports school spirit, Stewart said. However, they do not want the injuries that have happened at other schools to happen at ISU.

He said someone was killed in Ohio by a mob of people tearing a goal post down.

Steve Decker, a junior in meteorology, said he saw several people laying on the ground being handcuffed. There were about three officers around each person they arrested, he said.

“It seems excessive to me. I don’t think it’s fair that some people were getting arrested and such and other people just started running on by and nothing’s happening to them,” he said.

Jean Fitzpatrick, a sophomore in biology, said, “As far as the cops go, I think they ought to have been more concerned with basic crowd control than with arresting specific people.”

She said she ran with the group carrying the goal post to Lake LaVerne.

“I ran in front of them actually, which was a little dangerous,” she said.

The group threw the goal post into the lake, Fitzpatrick said, along with a stop sign, the swan crossing sign, a dumpster, a light post and about three barricades.

“That’s a little too much,” Fitzpatrick said. “That takes it from just plain fun to just destructive, I mean really destructive— stupidly destructive.”

Stewart said there were reports of theft of numerous stop signs and damage to a tree and several cars.

Bryan Willson, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, said he was sprayed with some sort of pepper spray after the victory.

Willson said he was charging forward with the crowd when someone in front of him was “hosed down.” He said he saw him rubbing his eyes and he looked like he was in a lot of pain.

“All I saw was the stuff spraying in the air like a little waterfall,” Willson said. He said he didn’t see who sprayed it.

Stewart said officers did not use chemical sprays, although there was a report that a fan used a spray on another fan.

Willson said he got splattered in the face with the spray. Some of it got in his mouth and on his glasses, but he didn’t get the full effect of the spray, he said.

“It was really hot,” he said. “I was just so shocked.” Willson said he never got onto the field.

The police had barricades up in an effort to prevent fans from getting on the field, Willson said, but at the same time, the football players were waving the fans down to the field.

“We were just having a good time; I couldn’t believe the cops,” he said.

Dan Earnst, a junior in computer engineering, said he was almost thrown into Lake LaVerne by people trying to get a better view.

“A couple guys jumped in afterward and there was a general chant of ISU, ISU one last time and everyone kind of dispersed,” he said.

DPS has asked the university to look into buying quick release goal posts, Stewart said.

The university is considering buying the quick-release goal posts, Jischke said. They will explore anything that will help reduce the potential for serious injury.

The goal posts at Trice Stadium cost several thousand dollars to replace, Jischke said.