Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Suspect Injured in Attempted Theft

A man who allegedly stole merchandise from the Georgetown University Bookstore sustained injuries after jumping from the Leavey Center bridge onto Tondorf Road below Sunday afternoon. The Department of Public Safety reported that the man is not a student and has no known connection to the university.

At about 2:27 p.m. a man allegedly attempted to steal two textbooks, each valued at $177, from the bookstore, according to Joseph Smith, associate director of DPS.

Stephanie Wolfram (MSB ’13) was inside the Leavey Center at the time of the incident. “Inside there [were] a couple people by the bookstore, looking frantic and yelling,” she said in an e-mail. “There were two men, one bigger and one shorter, and the bigger man seemed to be holding onto the shorter man. Eventually the shorter man started to struggle and broke free from his grip and started running [toward] us and pushed past us and out the door.”

At that time, Wolfram said, the shorter man ran out of the Leavey Center and onto the pedestrian overpass that crosses onto campus.

DPS reported that the suspect then dropped a duffel bag containing the textbooks before jumping over the side of the bridge. The man looked along both sides of the bridge before crawling over the concrete railing on the left side and climbing down the wall, according to Wolfram. After hanging from the side of the bridge for at least several minutes, she said, the man let go and fell onto the street below.

Shortly after, a car drove up to his location at which time, Wolfram reported, the man began shouting that he had been hit by a car and needed help. The suspect then began grabbing at the back door of the vehicle and asking the driver to let him into the back seat of the car.

“We . started yelling down to them [the driver and other onlookers] that he had just jumped over the side of the bridge, was not hit by a car, he had stolen something, and that we had called DPS and [Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services], and they were on there way to take care of him,” Wolfram said. “The people then proceeded to hold him down until GERMS came, and they took him away.”

Georgetown University Director of Media Relations Andy Pino said, “The suspect sustained some injuries during his jump, and he was transported to [Georgetown University Hospital] for medical attention.”

He was apprehended by DPS and treated at the hospital for noncritical injuries. The case was then turned over to the Metropolitan Police Department, which went to the hospital to investigate. MPD was unable to comment at press time.

GERMS and the Georgetown University Hospital were unable to comment on the suspect’s injuries.”

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