The day after Tyler Clementi committed suicide on Sept. 22, 2010, Dharun Ravi told police that he did not set up his webcam to spy on his roommate.
But when police asked if he thought he had violated Clementi’s privacy, Ravi responded “yes” in the interrogation video presented in yesterday’s trial.
Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office investigator Michael Daniewicz conducted Ravi’s interrogation the day after Clementi’s death.
Ravi told Daniewicz that the tweets he posted about the alleged second viewing of Clementi and his male guest were composed “jokingly.”
In the interrogation video, Ravi said he turned on the webcam in his room to monitor his possessions after Clementi’s guest entered their Davison Hall C room on Busch campus.
Ravi described the guest as an older male who was “slightly overweight” with short, dark hair and facial hair.
“I was little creeped out,” Ravi said in the video. “I just got a bad vibe from him.”
In the video, Ravi said he turned on the webcam Sept. 19, 2010 using his friend Molly Wei’s computer through an auto-accept feature on iChat.
Ravi told Daniewicz that during the viewing, he briefly saw two men being intimate in the corner of his room, but he could not tell exactly what they were doing.
He proceeded to tell his friends what he saw, including a tweet in which Ravi said he “saw his roommate making out with another dude.”
Clementi requested the room for the night again on Sept. 21, 2010, Ravi said in the video.
Although Ravi said he was “weirded out” about Clementi’s guest, only identified as M.B., he let Clementi have the room again.
Ravi said that this time, he turned his webcam away from Clementi’s bed and shut his computer off.
Ravi told Daniewicz that he asked a friend to call Ravi via iChat to ensure the camera was off. Ravi said that he friend confirmed that the connection failed.
Lokesh Ohja, Ravi’s friend and a Davidson Hall C resident at the time, testified in court on March 1 that Ravi asked for his help that night to position the webcam toward Clementi’s bed.
“Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and [midnight]. Yes, it’s happening again,” Ravi tweeted on Sept. 21, 2010.
When Daniewicz mentioned the tweet during the interrogation, Ravi claimed he was being sarcastic in the post and did not intend to view Clementi and his guest again.
Ravi said in the video that he tried to reach out to Clementi and sent him a text apologizing for the Sept. 19, 2010 incident.
“I want to make amends for Sunday night. … I’ve known you were gay, in fact one of my closest friends is gay. … I don’t want to ruin your freshmen year,” Ravi said in a text message to Clementi.
Ravi told Daniewicz he did not want Clementi to think he was spying.
The interrogation ended when Ravi’s father, who was waiting outside the room, asked to have an attorney represent his son, to which Ravi agreed.
Ravi is charged with invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest with up to 10 years in prison.
The trial is scheduled to continue today and is expected to last two to three more weeks.