Robber jumps out of 3rd-floor window after students spot him

A man robbing a house on Chestnut Street inhabited by University students "thought he could fly," Craig Hollerman said yesterday. The Wharton senior, who lives in the house, said when his friends found the man robbing a third-floor room at 8:22 p.m. Friday, they yelled at him to stop. "Some black dude climbed up a tree, broke into the third floor, and took two CD players," College senior Chris Busconi said. "He ran down the hallway and jumped out of the window with the players in hand." The man survived the 35 to 40 foot drop to the alley behind the house with two broken ankles, Busconi said. "He broke both his ankles, but miraculously the CD players were unharmed," the resident added. "We and the police found him crawling down the alley." Hollerman mused, "I think he was on crack or something." University Police Sergeant Lawrence Salotti said yesterday that police responding to the burglary report found the man with broken ankles in the alley. The house, located at 3721 Chestnut Street, has been burglarized seven times during the past two years the students have lived there, residents said. "We asked the landlord to put bars on the windows [when the crimes first occurred]." Busconi said, adding the house was robbed the week after the bars were installed. The students then asked the landlord to put bars on the inside of the windows, and for the past year and a half, there have been no incidents. Hollerman said that several bicycles have been stolen during the past summer, but that no one has been injured or threatened. Busconi said he has chased away several people who he caught throwing bottles at his house and this semester he caught one man "chiseling" at a side door to the kitchen.

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