Visiting Fellow Charged With Loker Assault

A visiting graduate school fellow in the University's linguistics department has been charged with the assault and battery of a university employee in Loker Commons last month, with a pretrial hearing for the case set for next week.

On the morning of March 23, Yagang Fan, a native of China, allegedly attacked Deborah C. Peters, the manager of Loker, punching her in the head and chest, according to a police report.

Peters said that the incident was the culmination of weeks of harassment and threats she received from Fan that began shortly after Fan's wife, Daihong Wu, was not hired for a job as a cashier.

On Feb. 21 Fan and Wu came to Loker and spoke with Peters about the job, and after the interview, Wu and Fan offered Peters a bottle of perfume, Peters said.

"They said that it was a 'first time meeting you gift,'" Peters said. "I didn't know if it was a tradition in their culture and didn't want to offend them so I took it. I thought it was a gift, not an attempted bribe."

Peter said that when Fan's wife did not receive the job he returned to Loker and said that gifts were only for people who helped each other.

The day before the alleged incident last month, Wu came into Loker to speak with Peters.

"She came right behind the counter and started screaming and crying about not getting the job," Peters said.

Peters said that the next day Fan came to Loker around 11 a.m. to ask about her meeting with Wu.

"He started threatening me and saying that he wanted the perfume or money for it," Peters said. "Then he said that he would follow me to my home, and would not leave me alone."

David J.H. Blackburn, a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, came into the dining area and saw the exchange.

"I walked in and there was this guy yelling something about $45 at the manager," Blackburn said. "She said she was going to call the police and went into her office. He went over and shoved her and hit her in the head. She started to scream so I jumped over the counter and grabbed him."

Blackburn and another patron then took Fan out of the office while Peters called the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

"[Fan] waited around while she was calling the police, all the while saying 'you'll pay if you don't give me that $45,'" Blackburn said.

Peters also said that Fan later called her office while HUPD officers were still in Loker.

Peters, who went to the hospital for x-rays on her chest and elbow following the incident, expressed concern for her safety.

"I am just worried that he will come back to my work," she said.

Fan declined to comment on the case.

—Staff writer Joseph P. Flood can be reached at flood@fas.harvard.edu.