Local Man Arrested, Charged In Assault of Harvard Student

A Harvard student was allegedly assaulted in front of Store 24 Saturday night by a Cambridge resident he had accused of shoplifting.

Eggert T. Dagbjartsson '86, of Iceland and Currier House, received treatment for bruises at University Health Services.

According to witness Laura K. Dietz '87, Dagbjartsson saw the defendant and a friend "blatantly stealing chocolate bars while in line," Dagbjartsson said he reprimanded the youths but did not report the theft to the store's clerk.

"I was going to phone the Harvard police, when the gay followed me and started kicking and punching me," said Dagbjarisson.

Dietz added that Dagbjartason threw a bottle of Coke at the assailant and then called the Harvard police.

Harvard police arrived "almost immediately," said Dagbjartsson, and moments later, Cambridge police arrested the suspect, Michael Surette.

"It took a lot to restrain him [Surette]," said Dietz, who added" it took about 15 policemen to tie him up and strap him to a board" after the suspect repeatedly "smashed his head against the door of the police car."

The 19-year-old defendant will be arraigned in East Cambridge Courthouse on charges of assault and battery today at 9 a.m., a Cambridge police spokesman said. He has a previous police record and will receive a court-appointed attorney, a spokesman added.

"I will press charges," said Dagbjartsson. "The whole thing really diagusts me."