A student’s false report of a stabbing outside The Tombs last Monday night may lead to disciplinary charges, while Metropolitan Police Department and Department of Public Safety handling of the incident was muddled.

While the student, who Chief of Police Jay Gruber would only identify as male, originally claimed he had been assaulted in the 1200 block of 36th Street NW by an assailant who produced a knife and stabbed him in the left arm and knee, he recanted his story after further questioning and admitted that he was injured after punching a car window.

MPD has filed a damage-to-property report and injured person report in response to the incident, although it will not pursue charges against the student, who was intoxicated at the time. Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson confirmed, however, that the university would address violations of the Code of Student Conduct.

The student had been asked to leave The Tombs and was on his way home when he punched the car window on P and 36th Streets NW. He was then transported to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to treat non-life-threatening injuries. MPD spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump declined to comment on the incident beyond stating that the student did punch the car window.

The public safety alert reporting the alleged stabbing was sent at 2:24 a.m. Tuesday, although the crime was said to have occurred at 10:52 p.m. Monday. An email correcting the mistake was sent at 9:12 a.m. Tuesday.

While the damaged car was likely in sight when MPD officers arrived on the scene, Gruber said that its connection to the injured student was not immediately apparent.

“The car is on the street, but it would have been hard to draw a conclusion,” Gruber said, adding that the university has attempted to assist the car’s owner. “Walking by the area, the MPD officers when they got on the scene may not have initially seen the car — it’s not something you’re looking for. You’re not paying attention to it. I think MPD’s mindset first is ‘We have a victim of the crime here.’”

Gruber said that DPS sent the initial alert of the alleged stabbing based on information gathered byMPD.

“Unfortunately for us we have to rely on MPD for a lot of things,” he said. “When MPD is involved, they’re the law enforcement agency of record. Whatever crime they determine happened, whatever action they take is the official version of what happened.”

In the three hours between the reporting of the alleged crime and the first DPS alert, the campus police attempted to verify information, which then turned out to be false. Based on the student’s report, which implied that he had been targeted as one specific victim, DPS determined the alleged suspect not to be an imminent threat to the campus community, allowing for the delay.

“In a case like this where it appears based on the initial information that one person was specifically targeted and there wasn’t some random person going around stabbing people, we want to make sure we have all the information possible,” Gruber said.

The student had also described the contrived suspect as a 6’1’’ white male weighing 180 lbs. and wearing a blue polo shirt. He stated that the suspect fled toward Prospect Street still armed with a knife after the assault.

Gruber said that it was unclear from what the individual derived the supposed suspect description.

“It’s an unfortunate incident where the student decided to make the false report,” Gruber said. “He was intoxicated at the time, and I guess he made a poor choice.”

No Tombs employees were stationed outside the restaurant Monday night, and employees who were working at the time directed all requests for comment to their manager. When questioned about the incident, Tombs manager Stefan Vasilis said that Tombs employees do not comment on customers. However, Vasilis emphasized that patrons are only asked to leave if they “threaten an unsafe environment,” which he said is rare.

Gruber stressed that fabricated reports of crimes are unusual at Georgetown. .

“It doesn’t happen often, but Georgetown has… a very low tolerance for lying or fabrication of stories or making false reports,” Gruber said. “In the future, we will take each case in a case by case basis.”

Hoya Staff Writer Penny Hung contributed reporting.