Multiple Uptown assaults reported in early morning hours March 15

Two assaults and one fight led to police response within an hour and a half in the early morning hours in Oxford March 15.

At 1:30 a.m., an 18-year-old reported that he was “assaulted by multiple males” near Brick Street Bar Uptown. An officer with the Oxford Police Department (OPD) took a report of the incident and wrote that the victim was “unable to provide much information” but that he had scratch marks on his neck and a torn shirt.

The officer reviewed security footage of the incident. In the video, the victim places his hand on the suspect’s shoulder “in what appears a friendly manner, when the unknown male turns towards [the victim] and pushes him,” according to an incident report. “Multiple males” then shoved the victim and grabbed his arms before the main suspect punched him in the face. Another male ripped the victim’s shirt at the same time.

Both the victim and a witness to the incident turned over fictitious driver licenses.

Less than an hour later, at 2:10 a.m., an officer was dispatched to Lot 52 for an active fight. The officer reported speaking to two males and two females who had been involved in an altercation, but that “the conversation was difficult as all four of the parties were yelling at me.”

One male reported that he’d been assaulted by an unknown male but later provided a name and pointed to a truck in the parking lot. The truck had eight occupants who acknowledged watching the fight but denied being involved. The victims then pointed to another group of people and said one of them was involved, but the six males in the group denied being involved. One of them provided Snapchat videos of the incident.

The main victim did not want to file a report, but one female involved said she would come back later to file a report. As of the writing of the incident report on March 15, OPD did not have a victim willing to press charges.

At 2:40 a.m., multiple pedestrians flagged down an officer near Kofenya for a reported assault. The victim had a swollen face, bloody nose and bloody mouth, according to an incident report. The victim stated that the suspect — a shirtless male — and two other males came to where he was sitting and started “getting in his face.” When the victim stood up, “the suspect immediately tackled him to the ground and began striking him multiple times,” the incident report states.

Four witnesses provided statements, and one of them also provided video of the incident. The three suspects involved fled to Beech Street and drove away.

OPD responded to two additional incidents of criminal mischief between March 10 and March 16, including one in which a person shot a window with a BB gun. One person also reported a burglary at an off-campus residence. People entered through a ground floor window on March 14 and “caused a significant amount of damage,” stealing one item but moving no further into the home, according to an OPD media report. The department reported one additional theft March 13.