Saturday, April 3, 2010

Saturday's Aggravated Assault: Unpreventable?

Early Saturday morning, around 4 a.m., GW students received a university "infomail" describing an "aggravated assault" that occurred a block or so from GW's campus (19th & Penn).

The e-mail describes a "white male" with a "medium build" who verbally assaulted female students in a group walking by, and then got out of his BMW, threw a vodka bottle at the students, and punched one of the male students in the face.

At the end of the e-mail, the university reminds us to take 4-Ride or the Colonial Express Shuttle, to be aware of our surroundings, to travel in a group, and to remember the location of the emergency blue light phones.

But from the sound of it, none of those resources could have prevented this "aggravated assault" from occurring. According to the e-mail, the students were travelling in a group and were so aware of their surroundings that someone had managed to jot down the suspect's sedan's Maryland tags.

Can't the university find this person if they have his description and tags? Will university students know that there is a repercussion for his assault?

These university crime alert e-mails are meant to remind us to use GW resources, like 4-Ride, but unfortunately, sometimes they just can't prevent assaults like this from occurring.

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