Sigma Chi brother punches U. Police officer during party

A Sigma Chi brother punched a University Police officer in the face outside the fraternity's Superblock house during a party there early Saturday morning, University Police said yesterday. Sergeant Lawrence Fink said that at about 1:38 a.m. Saturday, a University Police officer was watching the party from Locust Walk when the brother pushed the officer two or three times. "When the male was stopped by police, he swung, punching the officer in the mouth and knocked off his glasses," Fink said last night. Fink declined to release the name of the suspect, saying only that he was a brother of the house. Sigma Chi President Kevin Scheetz declined to comment specifically on the incident yesterday, saying only that he could confirm that the incident occurred and that the brother had been arrested. In a separate and unrelated incident, two people living at the 4600 Spruce Street Apartments were chased out the building by a black man brandishing a silver 38-caliber pistol, according to police. The couple, who were not affiliated with the University, identified the man as James Baker, an acquaintance. According to Joseph Allman, a graduate student in Education who lives on the 4600 block of Spruce Street, "a couple was running like hell up the street." "It was clear they weren't just running for a bus," Allman said. "They were running away from someone." Allman, who was sitting outside his house with four friends, watched as the black man, wearing brown pants and a beige Hawaiian shirt, ran after the couple yelling, "You're a dead man," and fired the pistol into the air. The suspect then went back into the apartment building and "apparently ditched the gun," Allman said. Wharton graduate student Ben Bentzin, who also lives on the 4600 block of Spruce, said he looked out of his house after the shot was fired. Bentzin said he saw the man come back out of the apartment building and heard him yell, "I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you, then I'm gonna kill your mother." Two University Police officers who were transporting two juveniles at 54th and Spruce streets were hailed down by the couple, who told them they were being chased and shot at by a man on a bus. The University officers saw Baker, who faces an outstanding warrant for a prior gun charge, and chased him, but lost him at 55th and Spruce streets. Baker was last seen fleeing north on 55th Street and then east on Irving Street. Fink said that Philadelphia Police found the weapon with one spent shell still in it. In another separate incident, a University student was assaulted by two men at 1:16 a.m. Friday outside the Track and Turf Bar on the 4200 block of Chester Street. The student, who refused medical treatment, was punched in the face, knocked to the ground, and beat on the legs by two men, one of whom was last seen wearing an orange shirt and beige pants, according to Fink. The second attacker weighed 200 lbs., was six feet, two inches tall and wore long pants. In an unrelated incident, a man attempting to break into a house at 3912 Pine Street was caught by University Police in broad daylight at 10:12 a.m. Friday. The man, Arthur Williams, of the 500 block of north 40th Street, was caught trying to force open a window with a crowbar, according to Fink. He was charged with attempted burglary. University Police said someone forced their way into several third floor rooms at the Hollenback Center at 8:34 a.m. Saturday. Fink said he did not know what, if anything, was stolen.

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