Suspects Nabbed After Second Daytime Campus Assault

A male undergraduate narrowly escaped an attempted robbery this afternoon in Harvard Yard after being struck in the head with the wooden handle of an umbrella. It was the second daytime assault on an undergraduate in the Yard in just three days.

Two friends of the victim emerged from a nearby building and chased the assailants through the Yard. Police arrested two suspects later this afternoon at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Garden Street, according to Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokesman Steven G. Catalano.

Police say the suspects were also the perpetrators of the Saturday afternoon knifepoint robbing of a male sophomore at Widener Gate. "The two suspects will be charged in both robberies," according to Catalano, who would not release the suspects' names because they are juveniles.

In both the Saturday afternoon attack and today’s attempted robbery, the assailants preyed on iPod-toting victims.

The attacks come amid a wave of iPod robberies in the Boston area. Here in Cambridge, a 16-year-old boy told police that his iPod was stolen about a half-dozen blocks away from Mather House on Dec. 24.

The victim of today’s attack, Kevin Paik '07, said that he was walking from Lamont Library through the Yard at around 3:20 p.m. when he noticed two males staring at him.

"I heard through my music that they were cursing at me," said Paik. "I ignored them, and kept walking into the Yard."

As Paik walked northwest across the Yard, one of the men ran into him forcefully from behind. The other suspect then accused Paik of hitting the first man.

"Basically, they were trying to pick a fight," said Paik, who is also a Crimson photography editor. "I told them I didn't want to fight. I think what pissed them off the most was I said, 'Look, I don't have time for this.'"

Paik said that he continued walking towards his destination, Phillips Brooks House, and entered the courtyard between Hollis Hall and Holden Chapel. There, the two suspects reappeared.

"They took advantage of the fact that now there weren't that many people around," Paik said. "The taller one swung an umbrella really hard at the top of my head."

Paik said that his head was "really ringing" as the assailants then told him to give them his iPod. He refused.

"I remembered reading the report from a few days ago," Paik said, referring to news of the Saturday robbery. "I started getting really mad at them."

Just as the altercation was reaching its height, two of Paik's friends—whom he was meeting at Phillips Brooks House—emerged from the building. At that point, Paik said, the two suspects began running away.

"I chased after them, through the Yard," Paik said. He called 911 as he was running after them, and tried to get bystanders to participate in the pursuit.

"I was yelling, 'Stop those guys—they tried to rob me!'" Paik said.

Despite their efforts—and the attempt of a Harvard security guard to apprehend the assailants—the suspects escaped through Thayer Gate at the north end of the Yard, across from the Science Center. According to Catalano, the suspects were subsequently seen in the Law School area.

Paik said that he identified the suspects for HUPD and Cambridge Police Department officers, describing them as black males, about 16 to 19 years old, and around 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10. Police told Paik that they arrested the two suspects about 30 minutes later.

One of the two suspects was found carrying an iPod whose serial number matched the iPod that was stolen from a Harvard undergraduate on Saturday, according to Paik. Catalano confirmed that the stolen iPod was recovered in the arrest today.

In a statement released yesterday, Catalano said that "over the years we have had assaults and robberies in the Yard. They are relatively rare, but they do occur."

"As for robberies," Catalano added, "although we have had them occur during the day and at night the majority of them occur late in the evening and early in the morning opposed to the day."

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.