Homeless Man Assaulted Near Peabody Terrace

An unknown assailant injured a homeless man by hitting him over the head with a brick near Peabody Terrace Friday evening, according to the Harvard University Police.

Harvard University police officer David J. Rourke assisted the victim, a 59-year-old white male who gave the address of a public shelter as his home address.

When he was found, the victim, who was "in an inebriated state," was bleeding from a gash above his right eye. He was taken by ambulance to Mount Auburn Hospital, Rourke said.

Rourke described the perpetrator as a six-foot tall, blond Caucasian male wearing blue jeans and an earring.

Minutes after the alleged assault, a female witness reported the crime and said the perpetrator had proceeded to smash her car's windshield.

The incident occurred at Corporal Burns Playground, a public park between Mather House and Peabody Terrace.

The victim was found a short distance away at the Peabody Terrace visitors' parking lot.

Two Assaults

This incident is the second assault to occur near Mather House in the past two weeks.

Around midnight on September 7, just blocks from Mather House, an intruder broke into a woman's home and raped her.

After the first incident, students voiced concern that the area is unsafe.

According to Sergeant William K. Donaldson of the Harvard University Police, as a result of the recent incidents, the Harvard Police Department might patrol the Mather House area more frequently if it is deemed necessary.

"I can't say that there has been any more [criminal] activity [in the Mather House area] than there has been elsewhere on campus," Donaldson said in an interview yesterday. "We don't have any special patrols there now. That isn't to say that Monday morning we won't evaluate the situation."

Donaldson said Harvard Police Chief Francis D. "Bud" Riley may set up a satellite police station in Mather House much like the substation in the basement of Weld Hall.

Donaldson noted that both assaults took place off Harvard's property.

"The incident occurred in a public area which we have no jurisdiction over," Donaldson said.

He said he intends to bring students' safety concerns to Riley's attention.

"If people are worried, that's just as important as [an actual] threat," he said

He said he intends to bring students' safety concerns to Riley's attention.

"If people are worried, that's just as important as [an actual] threat," he said