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Police say intoxicated man smashed in door at Harriman State Office Campus and slept there

Friday, January 25, 2008
ALBANY -- A University at Albany student trying to get home after a night of drinking downtown allegedly smashed in a door at the Harriman State Office Campus and fell asleep inside Thursday morning, State Police said.
Troopers found Daniel Johnson, 19, passed out in a second-floor hallway of the Department of Taxation and Finance Building after a grounds worker called around 5:25 a.m. to report a drunken man at that location, said Sgt. Kern Swoboda. Johnson lives nearby at UAlbany's uptown campus.

"He was unable to recall how he got to the state office campus, how he got into the building, or how he became injured," Swoboda said.

The student was "extremely intoxicated" and had a cut over his left eye and another one on the back of his head when troopers Kenneth Ahigian and Ben Fitelson arrived, Swoboda said

Police found a garbage can next to the shattered glass downstairs, which Johnson apparently used to smash the locked door's glass.

Johnson told police he was trying to get back to his dorm. The teen from Hopewell Junction claimed he had been drinking at a "downtown establishment," but didn't say which one, Swoboda said.

It's standard procedure for police to try to find out where the alcohol was obtained in cases of underage drinking, Swoboda said.

Johnson faces the felony charge of possession of a forged instrument for changing the birth date on his driver's license, Swoboda said.

He also was charged with criminal mischief and trespassing, both misdemeanors. Johnson was released after an appearance in Albany City Court. He's due back on Feb. 14.