A student was sent to the hospital after being allegedly assaulted and robbed Monday night in West Georgetown in one of three reported assaults during a one-hour period.
Emma Graham (COL ’08) said that as she was returning from a class in White Gravenor to her house on P Street at around 9:15 p.m., four men sitting on the corner of 37th and P Streets started following her.
She said that they approached her from behind and demanded her iPod. When she gave it to them, she said, they demanded her purse.
“As I handed that over, they maced me,” Graham said. “I turned to run, and they hit me with a glass bottle.”
The suspects stole Graham’s iPod, leather purse, a wallet and credit and debit cards, which were together estimated to be worth over $110, according to the Metropolitan Police Department incident report.
Graham said the assailants fled down P Street on foot after spraying her with mace and hitting her with the bottle. Although she could not see, she said she was able to find her way into her house, where she told her housemates to call 911. Graham was later transported to the Georgetown University Hospital, as she suffered from irritation from the mace and a contusion on the left side of her face where she was hit with the bottle, according to the MPD incident report. Graham said that she did not report the incident to the university’s Department of Public Safety.
According to the report, one of the suspects was of medium-dark complexion, approximately 18-19 years of age, 5-foot-6, 110 pounds, had black hair and wore an orange sweater and a gray hat. All four suspects were described as black males.
Less than an hour after this incident, Samira Abu-Ghazaleh (GRD ’08) said that she was on the stairs by the Car Barn walking back to her home in Rosslyn when she was approached by two males. One of the suspects approached her from the side and sprayed her in the face with mace, which she said disoriented her because she was on the phone with a friend at the time.
Abu-Ghazaleh said that the assailant sprayed her again, repeatedly demanding, “Drop your purse.” She said that the two men – whom she described as 16- to 18-year-old black males – then fled without taking anything.
She then ran to into the nearby gas station, where employees helped her wash her face and eyes.
An MPD officer who was at the gas station took a report of the incident called an ambulance, though Abu-Ghazaleh said that she did not need one. She said she did not report the incident to DPS because she assumed MPD would inform officers there.
Abu-Ghazaleh said she did not get a good look at the suspects.
According to a university-wide public safety alert sent Tuesday afternoon, DPS was notified about two other incidents on Monday evening.
At approximately 9:11 p.m., a complainant reported that she was walking on 34th Street toward O Street when she noticed four females and one male sitting on a patio at the corner of O Street, the alert said. The alert said that one of the males began to follow her, asking if he could talk to her and reportedly “got in her personal space.” The alert said that the suspect did not touch the complainant.
In an assault at around 9:21 p.m., another complainant reported that on P Street between 35th and 36th Streets, six or seven unidentified males pushed him and said, “Happy fucking Halloween,” according to the DPS alert. The alert said that the complainant “jumped in his car and drove off.”
According to the DPS incident log, MPD was notified of both incidents, although MPD Second District Captain Frank Hill said that no reports were filed.
Graham said that the incidents have given her a new perspective on campus security. “I feel pretty unsafe,” she said. “I always hear about this kind of thing happening at one o’clock in the morning. I was on my way home from class. It was completely unexpected.”
Abu-Ghazaleh said she had previously felt relatively safe walking from campus to Rosslyn but that she now plans to take the GUTS bus or find rides from friends. “Now I know I won’t feel safe walking,” she said.
