A 21-year-old male student and resident of DuBois College House was arrested early last Tuesday for falsely pulling a fire alarm in the building and attacking investigating police officers.
The student made bail, set at $24,000, and is set to attend a preliminary hearing today at the city police precinct at 55th and Pine streets.
At around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the perpetrator allegedly pulled a fire alarm in the basement of DuBois. When University police officers arrived on the scene, the student was "acting in a strange manner," according to Penn Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Bill Danks.
When officers confronted the student, Danks said that the student responded violently.
"He literally attacked the two officers that approached," Danks said. "The officers were forced to subdue him."
According to Danks, the officers sustained cuts and bruises in the ensuing struggle, and the perpetrator "was sprayed with pepper spray but not seriously harmed."
Following the incident, the student was taken to the Southwest Detective Division of the Philadelphia Police Department. He was charged with three counts each of aggravated assault on a police officer, recklessly endangering another person, threats, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
For setting off the fire alarm in the absence of an emergency, the perpetrator received one count of false alarms.
Fellow students, guards and other DuBois residents were prompted to exit the building when the fire alarm was set off.
"We were told to stand a little farther away from the building," College sophomore Igor Levi said. "Some students were annoyed because it was late and a bit chilly outside."
According to Levi, the cause of the alarm was not immediately known to residents.
"Most of the students were unaware of what really occurred," Levi said. "But the word was going around that somebody pulled" the alarm.
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