Penn State football player Jerome Hayes, one of six players charged today in connection with an April 1 assault in a downtown apartment, told State College police the scene shortly after midnight inside the third-floor residence was "crazy" and "like a brawl."

"There was chaos for five straight minutes," Hayes told police. "Three to five minutes of total craziness, people everywhere."

Hayes was charged this morning along with teammates Anthony Scirrotto, Justin King, Chris Baker, Lydell Sargeant and Tyrell Sales.

According to the criminal complaint, Hayes told police he was among 15 to 20 players that went to the Meridian II, 646 E. College Ave., apartment in response to an outside altercation that involved Scirrotto.

"You got to do what you got to do," Hayes told police. "We went down to protect." According to the complaint, Scirrotto and his female friend, Rachel Prinz, were involved in an incident with three men on the corner of College Avenue and High Street the evening of March 31.

Police said Penn State student Bernd H. Imle reported that Scirrotto's female friend kicked him in the groin. Imle told police that he shoved the woman and, according to a citation, threw a punch at Scirrotto, which "grazed his face." Police said Scirrotto pulled out his cell phone and Thomas D. Skalamera, another Penn State student, knocked it out of Scirrotto's hand.

Imle and Skalamera, who are not residents of the Meridian apartment, both received summary citations for their involvement in the incident.

Following the altercation, Scirrotto followed the three men to Meridian II and watched them go to the third floor, according to police. He then called his brother, Derek, who brought two other men to the area around the Meridian, police said. All four men then went to a third-floor apartment and knocked on the door, according to the complaint.

The men were denied entrance to the party, but Anthony Scirrotto saw a man inside the apartment with whom he had the earlier confrontation, according to the complaint.

Anthony Scirrotto called Sargeant after being denied entrance, according to the criminal complaint. Scirrotto told police that numerous football players arrived after he made the phone call.

Hayes said Sargeant received a phone call while he, Sargeant, Baker, King, Knowledge Timmons, Brennan Coakley, Deon Butler, a Penn State recruit and a couple of girls were at Coakley's Nittany Apartments residence between 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., according to police. Hayes said he had been drinking there, but had only one beer, according to the complaint.

Hayes said Scirrotto told him that he was downtown with his girlfriend by Hooter's Restaurant, according to the complaint. Scirrotto also told Hayes that a man pushed his girlfriend and three men attacked him, police said.

Hayes, Sales, Baker, King, Timmons and sophomore defensive end Tom Golarz then drove to Hooter's in Hayes' car to meet Scirrotto, police said. Butler and the recruit came down to the area, but both stayed at a nearby McDonald's, according to the complaint.

A police press release states that "a large group of males rushed into" the third-floor apartment shortly after midnight.

"I look over to the door and I see all these guys muscling their way in," apartment resident Kevin Sanders (sophomore-political science) told The Daily Collegian April 2, one day after the incident occurred. "I'm still sitting down [on a couch] at this point, like 'What is going on?'"

Larry Himes (junior-labor and industrial relations), another resident of the apartment, told police he yelled at the intruders to leave and said he was calling police. Himes called police at 12:18 a.m., according to the complaint. When he took the phone out, one of the intruders grabbed it and threw it across the room, police said.

When the group of men rushed in, they went after Imle and assaulted him, throwing him on a couch and punching him in the head and torso, police said. He was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he was treated and released, according to the complaint. Imle later identified Baker as the person who punched his head and torso during the attack, police said.

Another partygoer, Penn State student John (Jack) Britt, who tried to break up the assault in the apartment, was hit over the head with a beer bottle and knocked unconscious, police said. Partygoers told police that after Britt was knocked unconscious, he was repeatedly punched in the head. He later was transported to the hospital by ambulance, according to the complaint.

During the melee, Steve Keenan, a guest in the apartment, saw a friend on the floor and attempted to pick him up, but was kicked in the face by an unidentified male, police said.

"The beating they were giving him was vicious; I feared for this kid's life," apartment resident Joseph McGarrity (sophomore-international politics) told The Daily Collegian April 2.

Partygoer Thomas Walsh told police that Baker had pushed him and was punching other people.

Baker, however, told police that he wasn't involved in any fighting. Scirrotto also denied being involved in fighting. King told police that he followed a group of 45 people into the building. He told police not all the people were football players and he had been in the apartment to try to get his friends out. He also told police that once everything had started, he felt there was no way to reverse it, so he left by himself.

Sargeant admitted to being in the apartment, but denied fighting, police said. Sales also told police that he entered the apartment, but denied being involved in fighting.

Hayes told police he had been trying to get Scirrotto out of the apartment. Hayes saw fights going on in various parts of the apartment, according to police. When the altercation ended, there was blood on the walls and on the carpet, apartment resident Sanders told the Collegian.

"We realized the whole confrontation should not have been," Hayes told police. "I agree there was a better way to handle it."

Check back for more updates.