Students hurt in weekend attacks

and Greg Montanaro Seven students and a visitor to the University were assaulted in four unrelated incidents in a 20-hour period this weekend, University Police Sergeant Mike Fink said last night. In three of the four attacks, groups of 10 to 20 men beat individual students. The events were in conjunction with Mischief Night, the night before Halloween. The first assault occurred at 37th and Sansom streets early yesterday morning at about 1:22 a.m. EDT. A student was walking with a friend when a man jumped off his bicycle and assaulted the students. The assailant took their money and credit cards, and then fled on his bike, according to Fink. An hour later at 1:25 a.m. EST -- after Daylight Savings Time set in -- at the same location, three students were assaulted by a group of about 10 males who jumped out of a pickup truck and a Ford Mustang. In this incident, no robbery occurred. Two of the three students were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where they were treated and released. Last night shortly after 8 p.m., two students were assaulted by a group of about 20 males who first threw eggs at them, and then punched and kicked them. The students managed to escape, and then hailed a taxi-cab. They later refused hospital treatment, Fink said. Finally, at about the same time, a 32 year-old University graduate student was knocked off his bicycle near his home at 45th and Locust streets, and beaten by a group of about 15 juveniles and men. The student received cuts to the left eyebrow and left knee. Fink said a member of a West Philadelphia-based town watch organization -- which is in direct radio contact with University Police -- witnessed the assault, and chased off the assailants while contacting University Police. The student was transported by police to HUP, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in stable condition last night. Fink said he could not speculate whether the incidents were related to "Mischief Night," activities -- which in recent years have brought violent acts on the night before Halloween. He added that the incidents appeared unrelated.

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