The rivalry between University of Kansas and University of Missouri fans escalated on Sunday when four KU fans got into an altercation with an MU fan over a sign.

Chris Kaufman, Denver senior, filed a complaint against University of Missouri police chief Jack Watring yesterday.

Included in Kaufman’s complaint was an allegation that Watring assaulted him after he refused to relinquish a sign.

The 3-foot-by-6-foot sign said that Mizzou Arena was the Allen Fieldhouse of the East.

The University of Missouri police department referred calls yesterday to the MU news bureau. Christian Basi, assistant director of the MU news bureau, said that the police department was investigating the allegations and that Watring would not be suspended during the investigation.

According to Kaufman’s description of events, an usher gave him and three others permission to hang the sign over a railing.

Kaufman and his friends were sitting two rows away from the railing, according to the complaint. Christian Green, 2003 KU alumnus; Richard Littrell, Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior and Andrew Wymore, 2004 alumnus, were with Kaufman.

Fifteen minutes after the students hung the sign, a man sat down in his seat behind it, Kaufman wrote in the complaint. Another man on the walkway below him called up and asked the man sitting behind the railing if he was going to allow the to sign hang in front of him.

After learning what the sign read, the man attempted to take it down, according to the complaint.

The man and Kaufman had a disagreement about the sign, according to Kaufman’s complaint. When Kaufman went to grab the sign from the man, he grabbed Kaufman by the collar of his shirt and drew him towards him, Kaufman wrote.

It was then that the man identified himself as the University of Missouri chief of police, Kaufman wrote in the complaint.

Littrell wrote in a separate complaint that he intervened and took the sign to roll it up as a uniformed officer approached the group.

Maj. Doug Schwandt escorted the group to the concourse, according to Littrell’s complaint.

The four KU fans asked questions of the police, according to Kaufman’s complaint, but were responded to vaguely and with threats of being arrested or thrown out of the game.

The rivalry between University of Kansas and University of Missouri fans escalated on Sunday when four KU fans got into an altercation with an MU fan over a sign.

Chris Kaufman, Denver senior, filed a complaint against University of Missouri police chief Jack Watring yesterday.

Included in Kaufman’s complaint was an allegation that Watring assaulted him after he refused to relinquish a sign.

The 3-foot-by-6-foot sign said that Mizzou Arena was the Allen Fieldhouse of the East.

The University of Missouri police department referred calls yesterday to the MU news bureau. Christian Basi, assistant director of the MU news bureau, said that the police department was investigating the allegations and that Watring would not be suspended during the investigation.

According to Kaufman’s description of events, an usher gave him and three others permission to hang the sign over a railing.

Kaufman and his friends were sitting two rows away from the railing, according to the complaint. Christian Green, 2003 KU alumnus; Richard Littrell, Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior and Andrew Wymore, 2004 alumnus, were with Kaufman.

Fifteen minutes after the students hung the sign, a man sat down in his seat behind it, Kaufman wrote in the complaint. Another man on the walkway below him called up and asked the man sitting behind the railing if he was going to allow the to sign hang in front of him.

After learning what the sign read, the man attempted to take it down, according to the complaint.

The man and Kaufman had a disagreement about the sign, according to Kaufman’s complaint. When Kaufman went to grab the sign from the man, he grabbed Kaufman by the collar of his shirt and drew him towards him, Kaufman wrote.

It was then that the man identified himself as the University of Missouri chief of police, Kaufman wrote in the complaint.

Littrell wrote in a separate complaint that he intervened and took the sign to roll it up as a uniformed officer approached the group.

Maj. Doug Schwandt escorted the group to the concourse, according to Littrell’s complaint.

The four KU fans asked questions of the police, according to Kaufman’s complaint, but were responded to vaguely and with threats of being arrested or thrown out of the game.

At that point, Wymore told Schwandt that the sign was their property. He was then escorted out of the arena, Wymore said in an interview.

While outside with Schwandt, Wymore said he was told that he was ejected for trespassing because his ticket had been revoked. Wymore said Schwandt failed to offer any further explanation.

“After thinking about my next move, I told him that since my ticket was was defective I was going to buy a new one or at least get a refund,” Wymore said.

He said he didn’t get a foot into the door of the box office before he was arrested.

Kaufman and Green were later told by Schwandt that Wymore was charged with criminal trespassing and was being held at Boone County Jail, according to Kaufman’s complaint.

They returned to the arena to watch the first half of the game before going to bail their friend out of jail, Kaufman’s complaint said.

A witness of the altercation also filed a complaint.

Barry Lewis, father of a University of Missouri student, said he was afraid Kaufman was going to fall over a nearby railing during the altercation. That was when he got up to intervene.

When he got there, the head of security had already arrived. Lewis said that rather than mediate the situation, the police went after the students with threats of being arrested and kicked out.

“I thought they were going to take care of the old man because he was creating the problem, but they never asked any questions,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the KU students were respectful, never spoke out of turn and complied with Watring’s wishes for them to take the sign down.

“My initial complaint was with the policeman who never attempted to get all of the information,” Lewis said. “Until I found out it was the police chief who assaulted them.”

Lewis is in the process of writing a letter to the vice chancellor to be sent today.

“As a tuition-paying parent, I wanted to let them know I wasn’t at all pleased and I had lost all confidence in the campus police department,” he said.