At the celebrated Yale-Harvard football game Nov. 17, Harvard juniors Gerard Hammond and John Rapaport rushed Yale’s Ronnell Higgins, sidelining him for a week with a back injury. That would have been legal, of course, if Hammond and Rapaport were on the Crimson defensive line and Higgins were the Elis’ quarterback — rather than a sergeant in the Yale Police Department.
As the final seconds of the contest ticked away, a horde of zealous Cantabs stormed the field at the Yale Bowl with the intent to tear down the goal posts, Yale Police Lt. Michael Patten said. They were met, however, by Yale police officers guarding both end zones, waiting to deal with rowdy fans.
Hammond and Rapaport were among the fans who rushed the south goal post where Higgins was stationed, Patten said. Hammond charged Higgins and toppled him over. While Higgins was on the ground, Rapaport jumped on him, giving Higgins a back injury that has kept him out of the office for nearly a week, Patten said.
Hammond then tried to flee the scene but was subdued with pepper spray and handcuffed by another nearby police officer, Patten said. Rapaport was apprehended shortly afterwards.
Patten said both students were arrested and charged with assault on an officer, riot in the first degree, and disorderly conduct.
Harvard graduate student Michael Biercuk actually made it past the line of police and to the goal post, where he was eventually detained before being escorted out of the Bowl. He was then cited with an infraction for public disturbance, Patten said.
Failed hitchhiker allegedly steals University computer
Maybe he needed a “Hitchhiker’s Guide to New Haven.”
Police responded to an alarm Saturday night at the Yale University Press building on Temple Street to find a first-floor window open with the screen pushed in. Officers canvassed the area until someone in a nearby van told them that a man, then carrying a box that appeared to contain a Gateway personal computer and peripherals, had asked him for a ride.
Two officers subsequently stopped Redgar Hennah, 40, of Monroe Street, as he was walking south on Temple Street toward Yale’s medical campus.
Patten said he had abandoned the box with the stolen technology. The officers questioned Hennah, who said he did not take anything.
Patten said the officers then spotted the box on the ground down the street and arrested Hennah, charging him with larceny and burglary, both in the third degree.