ST. LOUIS, MO. — After landing in St. Louis Saturday night following his release from police custody in Cairo Friday,Derrik Sweeney (COL ’13) couldn’t stop smiling.

Sweeney, along with two other American students, was detained by Egyptian authorities Tuesday after being accused of participating in violent protests in TahrirSquare.

His late-night flight arrived to about 30 family members and friends, some waving homemade signs.

“You’re not going anywhere,” his father, Kevin, yelled as he and his wife wrapped their son in a bear hug.

“I’m never letting you go,” Sweeney’s mother, Joy, said while crying.

Speaking to reporters, Sweeney reiterated how thankful he was to be back in the United States.

“I thank my family and I thank the world, and I love the world and I thank the universe for being so beautiful and good,” he said.

Sweeney was detained Tuesday along with fellow American students Greg Porter, a student at Drexel University, and Luke Gates, a student at Indiana University. The three, who were all studying abroad at the American University in Cairo, were accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and clashing with police.

Sweeney denied the accusations, calling the reports inaccurate.

“We did not touch any, we did not prepare any or have any [Molotov cocktails]. … I don’t know what my friends, what these Egyptian kids were aiming, what they were intending to do that evening, but certainly I and the three of us Americans never held, prepared or threw any bombs or even rocks or did anything to harm anyone or anything.”

Describing the protest Monday night, Sweeney said he was enveloped in tear gas. Police were also firing what he thought were rubber bullets. At some point, Sweeney said that he was separated from Gates and Porter in the turmoil.

Upon finding each other, Sweeney said the students followed some Egyptians to what they were told was a safe place.

Instead, they found themselves detained in Cairo’s Abdeen courthouse.

“Well, the first night there we didn’t seem to get into the legal process, we were kind of outside the legal process,” Sweeney said. “We were taken away it seemed like. That night we were hit a bunch, I mean, I don’t think I have any lasting scars, fortunately.”

Sweeney said he spent the entire night fearing for his life.

“It was very, very frightening, especially that first evening that was probably the most scary, the most frightening thing of my life. They said they were going to shoot us soon. We spent nearly six hours that night in nearly fetal position sort of with our hands behind our back.”

The next day, the three students were moved to a public prosecutor’s office, where the U.S. Consul General in Cairo, Roberto Powers, was able to visit them. Sweeney was then able to speak with his mother briefly for the first time after being detained.

The students then spent time with a prosecutor as well as civil rights lawyers and volunteers, who assisted them in getting their case dismissed by a judge Thursday.

“I think that they didn’t have any sort of evidence connecting us to any crime, as that’s the case, and so they finally let us go,” Sweeney said.

For Sweeney, the help of the consulate and a legal team made all the difference.

“And I think it was greatly helpful to have the consul and the embassy out there so they couldn’t just do as they please with three kids,” he said. “Just having their presence, it was really helpful to know that Americans and other people were watching their actions.”

After he was released, Sweeney said he was able to view the video of the students aired on Egyptian state television.

“I was a little bit annoyed when I saw the first article because I noticed that I looked like the wimp of the three of us. But that was a very, very scary moment,” he said, adding that he fainted shortly after the video was filmed.

The clip was replayed on American news stations Monday morning, and when a cousin caught a glimpse of Sweeney’s face in the footage, it became the first notice his family received of his arrest.  After a nerve-wracking two days, the Sweeney family heard the news on Thanksgiving that the students would be freed.

“Best Thanksgiving news ever,” his cousin, Tiffany Sweeney, said.

Katie Dougherty, the cousin who first spotted Sweeney on the news, agreed.

“It made us all really thankful for everything we have and all of our family members,” she said.

But due to paperwork processing delays, the students were held in a cell in a police station Thursday night. Although it seemed then as though the students would not be released until Sunday, their paperwork was expedited, and all three were released Friday and escorted to the airport.

Sweeney’s mother never lost hope that her son would return.

“I knew he would come home,” she said.

Sweeney faced obstacles on the last leg of his journey, barely making his connecting flight from Washington, D.C., to St. Louis Lambert International Airport after being delayed in customs. His grandfather, Joe Wanner, said he haggled with the ConAir flight services in order to hold the plane for his grandson.

Wanner, who drove down from Chicago Saturday in order to see his grandson, emphasized how thankful he was that Sweeney had made it home.

“I didn’t understand why he went over there [with all the riots]. … This is not a party. They have a different mentality,” Wanner said. “There’s a difference between protestors and rioting. In a protest you stand up and hold signs. In a riot you throw rocks.”

Asked what he will take away from the ordeal, Sweeney was quick to reply with a smile.

“I learned to listen to the U.S. Embassy when there are warnings from the U.S. State Department. I learned there is a lot of fervor for the revolution out there and for change, and I learned it’s probably better to watch from TV,” he said with a laugh.

But he also said he hopes to eventually make it back to the embattled country.

“I still believe in general the Egyptian people are really good people and one day, inshallah, I hope to go back there, maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “Any time soon, no, I don’t think they ever want me to go back.”