It started with an argument about a boy, and it ended with a six-month jail sentence.
Judge Robert Barnet Jr. sentenced former Ball State University student Amanda Polson, 20, to six months in Delaware County Jail, followed by six months of probation, during a sentencing hearing Thursday.
Polson pleaded guilty Oct. 6 to criminal recklessness resulting in serious bodily injury, which is a Class D felony with a standard prison sentence of 18 months. As part of the plea agreement, Polson's charge was dropped from a Class C felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury, which has a standard prison sentence of four years.
Police arrested Polson and four others - Kari Streib, 21; Rene Whiteley, 20; Ashley Kirkman, 21; and Alysse Popov, 21 - in October 2007 at a party north of Ball State's campus. According to police reports, the women ganged up on Christina Eslinger, who was an Ivy Tech student at the time.
The fight resulted from months of arguing about Polson's ex-boyfriend and Eslinger's friend.
"It seems to me we're far beyond being childish and being immature," Barnet said during the sentencing. "This was, frankly, a display of disgusting conduct."
Deputy Prosecutor Judi Calhoun and Defense Attorney Steven Bruce disagreed about the events of that night, but the consensus in the courtroom was that the incident stemmed from Polson's ex-boyfriend Nick Wagoner and Eslinger got caught in the middle of a feud.
Polson said during her testimony she had been dating Wagoner for about eight years when she discovered he cheated on her with several women.
One of Wagoner's sexual encounters was with Alison Davenport, an Indiana University student and long-time friend to Eslinger, Davenport said.
After Polson discovered Wagoner and Davenport's relationship. During Summer 2007, the two women began having hostile conversations with each other and among their friends, they said during their testimonies Thursday.
Davenport said the two women, and their friends, began "psycho stalking" each other, especially on Facebook where they would post threatening messages and status updates.
"They would say things to me, and I would say things back," Polson said. "... That's how I knew Christina, was from Facebook."
Witness' testimonials included stories about Polson and a friend chasing Davenport on Interstate-65 - which they denied during their testimonials - and an angry phone call in which the women ended up screaming profanities at one another.
Polson and Eslinger didn't meet face-to-face until after Fall Semester started last year. Polson said she was at a party when Eslinger shoved and threatened her. Polson said she later saw Eslinger arguing with Streib, and the two were shoving each other. Polson went over to the fight, she said, at which point she and Eslinger wound up on the ground.
"I wrapped my arms around [Eslinger] to pull her upward," Polson said. "We fell back and we were to the side. I got pulled up and taken inside."
Polson said she never saw anyone kicking Eslinger, and she does not know how Eslinger suffered the injuries to her right arm that required her to have emergency surgery on her elbow.
"I'm not saying it's magical," Polson said. "Maybe when she fell to the ground with Kari, her elbow popped."
Eslinger said she did not see who it was that kicked her, but she felt several people doing it.
"I could not explain how much pain it was," she said. "It was like something from a movie where person could not control themself."
When Eslinger got up, she said, Polson was on the ground, and she saw four women standing around her, including Streib, Kirkman and Whiteman. Eslinger could not identify the fourth.
Neither attorney nor Barnet could come to an agreement about whether there was a five-vs.-one stomping or some shoving that resulted in a permanent injury, but Polson said she regrets her behavior throughout the entire feud with Davenport and how it affected Eslinger.
"Before this happened, I take full responsibility for acting childish and saying things I didn't mean or shouldn't have said to someone," she said. "I'm sorry for what happened, I truly am."
After her arrest, Polson said, she also found herself explaining another outcome of the night - why she smiled in her mug shot at the jail.
"When I was in the jail, the cops - not to put blame on anyone - they just simply said 'If you didn't do anything, smile. If you did, don't,'" she said. "I don't think [the fight] is a joke at all."
Polson's arrest was not her first run-in with police.
According to court documents, she received a citation for illegal consumption of alcohol in January 2007. Polson was amidst the court deferral the night she was arrested on suspicion of attacking Eslinger.
Since the incident, Polson has left Ball State and began attending Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis at the beginning of Fall Semester. She said the arrest and court proceedings have made her more mature.
"I've learned that I had to grow up. I focus on school," she said. "When I was at Ball State, I didn't focus on school. I focused on my social life. I've grown up. I've grown up a lot."
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