Harvard Sophomore Accosted By Juveniles

A Harvard sophomore said she was accosted Sunday night by two Black teenagers in an attempted armed robbery outside the rear of Claverly Hall.

The two juveniles were arrested shortly after the incident and charged with "attempted armed robery while masked," said Jack Morse, deputy chief of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

The female student said she was walking down Linden Street at approximately 9:30 p.m. when the two males stopped her.

According to the student, one of the assailants, who was wearing a mask, demanded that she give her money to him and threatened that his companion had a knife. The second youth pulled out the weapon, which the student said looked like a "steak knife."

The student said she screamed "help" and ran toward Mt. Auburn St., and her attackers fled from the scene. Using a centrex phone at Claverly Hall, the victim then called the University police, who arrived five minutes after the call, she said.

Morse said two units were dispatched to the scene--one to meet the student and another to search for the alleged assailants. The two young men were spotted and apprehended by University police officers outside the Carpenter Center, Morse said.

"What we had here was a case where a cool student used her head and the police responded quickly and efficiently," Morse said.

Officers brought the student to the scene of the arrest, where she positively identified the suspects, Morse said. He added that a knife was recovered and later identified by the Harvard student as the weapon used in the incident.

The student said yesterday she was still in shock over the incident. "I walk down that street everyday," she said. "You just don't think it could happen to you. It is so frustrating that nobody came when I screamed. If you hear someone yell, you shouldn't assume it's just a party."

"When it was over, I felt lucky that I was alive," the student added. "It's insane when you feel lucky when you do not get killed."

The Crimson does not print the names of crime victims.