Penn Police officer assaulted in Blockley Hall

A University Police officer was attacked Tuesday night while responding to reports of a burglary in Blockley Hall. The officer was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and released that same night for right eye trauma and soft tissue scratches on his face that he received during the assault, according to the official University Police log book. Kenneth Ray, a University employee, was arrested for aggravated assault. He was still in custody as of last night, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson said. A witness told police that Ray was not the burglar. Penn Police received a report from a University employee who was working at the time in Blockley Hall, located at 418 Guardian Drive, that a suspicious person was trying to enter rooms on the first floor. When two officers reached the building, they stopped Ray, who was exiting the building on the Curie Boulevard side and asked him to show his PennCard. According to the police report, Ray refused to show identification and would not cooperate with the officers' further requests. As the police continued to question him, Ray allegedly attacked one of the officers, striking him in the face and trying to gauge out his eyes. When police brought the employee who originally reported the burglar to identify Ray, she confirmed that he was not the suspicious man she had seen. Police found no other suspicious persons in the building and nothing was apparently taken. Unlike other major crimes, like burglaries, robberies and thefts, the number of assaults on and around campus has actually risen over the past three years. University Police have said in the past that most of the increase, though, is because of more alcohol-related student-on-student attacks.