Alums say students attacked them Fri.

Two visiting alumni allege that they were physically attacked on Locust Walk Friday night by a group of University students, and claimed University Police mishandled the incident by allowing an assailant to escape and neglecting to interview key witnesses. The alleged victims said they intend to file a formal complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Office and to hire an attorney to file criminal and civil charges against the alleged attackers. One of the victims, a 1990 University graduate visiting campus last weekend who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that a group of five large men approached him and a friend near the button sculpture on College Green. The student said that one of the men told him to "get the fuck off the button." After the student told the men that he "did not want any trouble," the man who first spoke to him started throwing punches at him. "We were minding our own business . . . [the alleged assailant] slapped me in the head after I refused to get off the button," the alumnus said. The alleged victim said that a fight ensued between the five men, who he said all weighed over 200 pounds and some of whom were football players, and the two victims, who both weigh about 150 pounds. He also said that the alleged assailants' friends stood and watched the fight, but did nothing. The accuser also said he smelled alcohol on the breath of at least a few of the attackers. The accuser said he and his friend fought back in self defense and kicked one of the alleged attackers in the mouth. The accuser alleged that when University Police arrived on the scene, officers did nothing to stop one of the alleged attackers, who was running away, despite the alleged victims' pleas. The accuser also said police did not take down the names or question two witnesses who had seen the incident, despite pleas by himself and his friend that they do so. He added that because the incident involved students and not West Philadelphia residents, the police did not take the alleged attack seriously. "It seems [the police] wanted [the incident] to be swept under the rug and forgotten about because the perpetrators are University students," the accuser said. "Because someone is a student doesn't give him the right to commit any crime, and he should be pursued strongly and quickly." Although specific officers present at the incident have not commented on the case, University police reports of the incident differ from the account given by the alleged victim. University Police reports state that several officers responded to a report of a simple assault on College Green at 1:00 a.m. Saturday, and found the complainant had been punched in the eye. The accuser said he knew some of his alleged assailants were football players because he went to the University Police station asked for names taken down by the police, which he said matched the names of men on the freshman and varsity football teams. He said police listed several of these people as witnesses, but also had descriptions of them. He said these descriptions matched his assailants. The accuser's friend was taken to HUP by officers responding to the report and was released the same night, according to University Police. According to police, the assailant is described as a 20- to 23-year-old male, five feet, six inches tall to five feet, eight inches tall, with a crew cut. The alleged victim said the police report was "amazingly flawed," and that five assailants were involved in the attack, not one, and that they were all large men. "I can't believe the report says that," the accuser said. "It seems like the police officers I talked to didn't report information to other police officers or write down the rest of the information . . . I pointed out assailants directly to police." "The police were absolutely unprofessional, apathetic and unorganized, and apparently the information we gave them was not reported properly in the report," the accuser said. University Police said they were still investigating the incident and refused to comment. But University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes said last night that the first responsibility of police is to care and give "aid to the injured." She said that, although apprehending suspects is very important, caring for victims is paramount. Holmes said that officers on the scene of a crime are instructed to immediately report the situation to headquarters. Although Holmes would not comment on the specific case, she said that, to her knowledge, "there have been no official complaints in reference to this incident filed with police." University Police officer Gary Heller said yesterday he was one of the officers who responded to the assault report but declined to comment on the case. University Police Officer Hugh McBreen, who the attacker said also responded to the assault report, could not be reached for comment. The accuser said this week that McBreen and Heller failed to write down the names and phone numbers of several witnesses and that the only witnesses interviewed by police were friends of the alleged attackers. The accuser said that one of the attackers was freshman football player Kevin DeLuca, but DeLuca said this week he wasn't involved. DeLuca said he didn't know anyone involved in the incident and that he only saw the end of the fight. DeLuca said he felt University Police handled the incident responsibly.

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