Two more suspects arrested in assault case

Two additional juveniles were arrested Saturday in connection with the series of assaults that occurred near the 4000 block of Pine Street the previous weekend, and arrest warrants are in effect for two other suspects, according to University Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Bill Danks.

Police received several reports of assaults that allegedly took place mainly during the early hours of April 19 and 20, many of which occurred around the 4000 block of Pine Street. A related attack allegedly occurred on Locust Walk on April 5. In each of the instances, the perpetrators were a group of teenage West Philadelphia residents, according to University Police.

Three of the suspects in the assaults had been apprehended on the night of April 20, bringing the total number of arrests to five.

Danks said the two additional warranted juveniles will be arrested in the upcoming week, noting that the police have been busy due to the Penn Relays this past weekend.

All seven of the individuals now arrested or with warrants issued for their arrest are between the ages of 13 and 17, Danks said. At present, the charges levied are simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats and criminal conspiracy.

These are considered criminal misdemeanors and are punishable by up to five years in prison for adults.

However, because all of the alleged perpetrators are minors, Danks noted that it is hard to predict what the punishments for the assaults could entail if they are convicted. All of the accused will be appearing at Juvenile Court located at 1801 Vine Street at an upcoming date that has yet to be determined.

"When you are charged as a juvenile in Philadelphia, it is completely different than an adult," Danks explained.

"They could be placed on probation, they could be sent away to schools.... There are about eight different things that can happen," Danks said.

At the moment, while police say they have not yet determined which of the suspects they believe were involved in all of the separate incidents, they have identified who they think may have been the perpetrators in two of the cases.

Five individuals have been pinpointed as having allegedly been involved in an assault of a male University student on the 3600 block of Locust Walk on the night of April 5. Three of the same five individuals were also charged with similar crimes in an assault case against a male student that occurred on the block of 4000 Pine Street on April 20.

Danks explained that University Police are working with Philadelphia Police to confirm the connections between these two cases and the others that occurred last weekend in order to charge suspects on additional counts.

"These are the same guys who did all the crimes" over the weekend, Danks said, noting that he believes this connection will be established promptly and that investigation into the cases will be closed in the near future.

According to University Police, all of these assaults involved punching attacks and some involved theft as well.

Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush explained that because these attacks appear to be random assaults perpetrated by juveniles for no apparent reason, the University has no plans to change security operations. Still, as always, officials are being vigilant about protecting students.

"We are always on the watch for any type of crime," Rush said.

Additionally, the fact that all of the accused are juveniles made their attempts more successful, Rush said. People do not generally anticipate that young individuals walking down the street will be committing crimes, and since the majority of those arrested are between the ages of 13 and 14, they did not appear menacing, she said.

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