A Yale psychology research assistant was assaulted and robbed Saturday night just after 10 p.m. near the corner of Dwight Street and Edgewood Avenue, police said.
Two black men allegedly approached the victim from behind and pinned him to the ground. The assailants rifled through the man’s pockets and took his cellular phone, wallet and other personal items which were worth hundreds of dollars, the victim said.
The assailants did not use a weapon and left the victim unscathed.
The Yale scientist was walking home when he was jumped and taken into a dark alley.
“This is something that always happens to other people, but now it’s happened to me,” the victim said. “I never felt safe in New Haven — this just makes it worse.”
After a rash of purse-snatchings along York Street in the beginning of September and Sunday’s mugging just a few blocks from that location, some students have speculated that the crimes may be related.
However, New Haven Police Sgt. Jo Schaller said it was improbable that the Saturday incident and the Sunday mugging of a female Yale student at knifepoint share a common thread.
“We have no reason to believe these cases are related,” Schaller said, citing different methods of attack and varying descriptions of the perpetrators. She added that the Saturday victim’s attackers did not use a weapon, whereas one of the men who robbed the female student on Sunday brandished a knife.
In response to the latest violence, Dean Saveena Dhall, director of the Asian American Cultural Center, announced that she will speak with representatives from both the Yale and New Haven police departments about the recent incidents and will hold a meeting tonight at the Asian American Cultural Center to discuss student security.
Jin-Woo Chung ’03, co-moderator of the Asian American Students Alliance, said that while there has been increased police presence in the vicinity of the cultural houses, he wishes pre-emptive measures had been taken.
“It’s unfortunate that it takes something like this to initiate discussion and dialogue,” Chung said.
Monday, Chung sent an e-mail to an Asian-American student mailing list claiming there had been “nearly 20 incidents, one in which a girl was stabbed.” New Haven police said no stabbings occurred.
Police also denied that the race of the victims played a part in any of the recent muggings and said that Yale students are often seen as particularly lucrative targets.
New Haven police have teamed up with detectives from the Yale Police Department to investigate the crime.