Suspects Nabbed After Second Assault

Kevin Paik ’07 narrowly escaped an attempted robbery on Monday in Harvard Yard after being struck in the head with the wooden handle of an umbrella, and police say the suspects were also the perpetrators of the Saturday afternoon knifepoint robbing of a male sophomore at Widener Gate. These events mark two daytime assaults on an undergraduate in the Yard that have occured in the span of three days.

“The two suspects will be charged in both robberies,” said Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Spokesman Steven G. Catalano, who would not release the suspects’ names because they are juveniles.

In both the Saturday afternoon attack and Monday’s attempted robbery, the assailants preyed on iPod-toting victims.

The victim of Monday’s attack, Paik, said that he was walking from Lamont Library through the Yard at around 3:20 p.m. when he noticed two males staring at him.

Two friends of the victim emerged from a nearby building and chased the assailants through the Yard. Police arrested two suspects later Monday afternoon at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Garden Street, according to Catalano.

“I heard through my music that they were cursing at me,” said Paik. “I ignored them, and kept walking into the Yard.”

As Paik walked northwest across the Yard, one of the men ran into him forcefully from behind. The other suspect then accused Paik of hitting the first man.

“Basically, they were trying to pick a fight,” said Paik, who is also a Crimson photography editor. “I told them I didn’t want to fight. I think what pissed them off the most was I said, ‘Look, I don’t have time for this.’”

Paik said that he continued walking towards his destination, Phillips Brooks House, and entered the courtyard between Hollis Hall and Holden Chapel. There, the two suspects reappeared.

“They took advantage of the fact that now there weren’t that many people around,” Paik said. “The taller one swung an umbrella really hard at the top of my head.”

Paik said that his head was “really ringing” as the assailants then told him to give them his iPod. He refused.

“I remembered reading the report from a few days ago,” Paik said, referring to news of the Saturday robbery. “I started getting really mad at them.”

Just as the altercation was reaching its height, two of Paik’s friends—whom he was meeting at Phillips Brooks House—emerged from the building. At that point, Paik said, the two suspects began running away.

“I chased after them, through the Yard,” Paik said. He called 911 as he was running after them, and tried to get bystanders to participate in the pursuit.

“I was yelling, ‘Stop those guys—they tried to rob me!’” Paik said.

Despite Paik’s efforts—and the attempt of a Harvard security guard to apprehend the assailants—the suspects escaped through Thayer Gate at the north end of the Yard, across from the Science Center.

According to Catalano, the suspects were arrested about 30 minutes later near the Law School area.

One of the two suspects was found carrying an iPod whose serial number matched the iPod that was stolen from a Harvard undergraduate on Saturday, according to Paik and Catalano.

In a statement released Sunday, Catalano said that “over the years we have had assaults and robberies in the Yard. They are relatively rare, but they do occur.”

“As for robberies,” Catalano added, “although we have had them occur during the day and at night the majority of them occur late in the evening and early in the morning opposed to the day.”

Saturday’s victim, a sophomore, was walking from his residence to Lamont Library at around 3:35 p.m. while listening to his iPod when he noticed two men following him down Linden Street towards Harvard Yard, he wrote in an e-mail.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, said that he ignored them and continued across Mass. Ave., entering the Yard through the Widener Gate.

As he was passing the bicycle racks between Widener and Wigglesworth, the victim said, one of the men came from behind and put his arms around his shoulders and neck. At the same time, the other man punched him on the head and displayed a knife, according to a community advisory sent out by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

“The knife was at least eight inches long,” the victim wrote. “And there happened to be no people around when it happened.”

The men demanded the victim’s iPod, which he gave to them, and the victim then took out his cell phone, preparing to call the police. At this point, the robbers also demanded the victim’s cell phone.

“I just threw my cell phone at them and ran the opposite way,” the victim wrote.

—Staff writer Anna L. Tong contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.