Officers break up fistfight

A dispute between two men Tuesday night escalated into a fistfight which was broken up by two plainclothes officers, University Police said yesterday. Police also recovered a gun on the scene and arrested one of the men for its possesion. The fight broke out at 7:38 p.m. at 40th and Chestnut streets. Neither of the men involved are affiliated with the University. University Police Officers Mark Johnson and Rudy Palmer broke up the fight, and found a .380 semi-automatic pistol on the ground at the scene. Police said the man who was arrested had been carrying ammunition for the gun and witnesses had seen him reaching into his clothes for it. The same man was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for facial injuries he incurred during the fight. He was released after treatment and transferred to the Philadelphia Police Department's West Detectives. In an unrelated incident, one man tried to rob another at simulated gunpoint Tuesday night at 32nd and Chestnut streets. The complainant reported that he was approached by a man with his hand in his pocket who claimed to have a gun. The would-be robber then demanded that the complainant give him his wallet. When the complainant refused, the attacker fled. The suspect is described as 5'10" tall, weighing 165 pounds, and was wearing a dark leather coat, boots, and a ski mask. He was last seen running east along the subway tracks at the 33rd and Market streets station. In another unrelated incident, University Police arrested a man for aggressive panhandling at 41st and Sansom streets at 8:55 p.m. Tuesday. The Philadelphia Police Department has a felony arrest warrant for the man, who was taken into custody by University Police and later transferred to the Warrants Department of the Philadelphia Police Department. In another unrelated incident, a telephone was reported stolen from the Johnson Pavilion to the University Police Department at 11:58 a.m. yesterday. In another separate incident, a camera theft from an unattended table in the Palladium was reported to University Police at 12:54 p.m. yesterday.