2 hospitalized after weekend assaults in South University Avenue area
Two men were sent to the hospital and others were injured in weekend fights in Ann Arbor on or near South University Avenue, according to police.
Ann Arbor police Lt. Renee Bush said two of the fights took place early Sunday morning, while the other was early Saturday.
The bar scene along South University Saturday night.
John Counts | AnnArbor.com
The first incident took place at 1:45 a.m. Saturday at the corner of East University Avenue and South University Avenue. Bush said police got a call reporting a melee with multiple people throwing punches.
When they arrived at the area, a 24-year-old Grass Lake man told police he was walking on South University when five or six men attacked him. He said the men punched him and knocked him to the ground before slamming his head repeatedly into the concrete.
The men also attacked a 27-year-old Trenton man who was with the Grass Lake man. The 27-year-old said he was punched in the face several times before the Grass Lake man came to his aid.
The Grass Lake man was taken to University of Michigan Hospital to be treated for a laceration on the side of his head. The Trenton man appeared to have a broken nose and bruising on the left side of his face. Police have identified a 29-year-old man as a suspect and are searching for a separate 18-year-old man, described as a 5-foot-8 inch black man with dreadlocks.
The second assault resulted in a 19-year-old Ann Arbor man being punched in the face seemingly for no reason in the 800 block of South University on Sunday morning.
Bush said the man was found lying unconscious and bleeding from the nose in the middle of a group of people on the sidewalk at 2 a.m. Sunday. Officers called an ambulance and were able to interview him once he woke up.
The man told police he was walking with a friend westbound on the north sidewalk of South University when three men walking eastbound approached them. One of the men said, “What are you doing wrong?” to the 19-year-old man before punching him in the face with a closed fist.
The punch knocked the man out and the three men continued walking away, Bush said. Alcohol was involved in the incident and police could not question the 19-year-old more before he was taken to the hospital.
The assailant is described as a white man, 5-feet-11 inches to 6-feet tall, brown hair, brown eyes, clean-shaven, wearing a white T-shirt and shorts.
The final assault occurred at 2:20 a.m. Sunday outside Pizza House in the 600 block of Church Street.
Bush said a 21-year-old Ann Arbor man and his friends were at the restaurant and engaged in verbal sparring with a 27-year-old East Lansing man and his friends. The insults being tossed between parties were so disruptive a bouncer at the restaurant told the groups to quiet down at one point, Bush said.
After they were done eating, the Ann Arbor man and his friends left the restaurant and were followed by the East Lansing man and his friends. The Ann Arbor man told police the East Lansing man punched him in the mouth outside, Bush said.
Police were called to the area and interviewed both parties. The Ann Arbor man identified the 27-year-old East Lansing man at the scene, Bush said.
No arrests were immediately made and the Ann Arbor man declined medical treatment, Bush said.
View S University Ave & E University Ave in a larger map
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
FormerMichRes
Thu, Sep 13, 2012 : 11:50 a.m.
To the commenters blaming the UM students, based on the ages of the people involved no UM students were involved. Maybe community college or special ed students?
Billy Bob Schwartz
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 2:08 a.m.
Thugs is thugs. I knew a guy decades ago whose buddy was attacked and given a pretty serious beating by a couple of dozen high school jerks in front of the grad library. My friend and his roommate took a couple of oak 2 by 2s and went down, stood back to back, and put 23 thugs in the hospital. Of course, my friend was arrested. It's too bad that the authorities can't or won't do what needs to be done, so that others don't feel the need to do it for them in socially unacceptable ways.
Hmm
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 3:29 p.m.
Alcohol definitely had nothing to do with this!
Cathy
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 1:51 a.m.
Wow, who but sociopaths wander around the streets punching strangers at random? Why aren't there cops on South U. policing the drunks? I have often thought that last call should be earlier in this town, particularly on game days when people have been drinking since 9 AM.
a2roots
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 11:26 p.m.
Sure seems like there are roving groups of thugs that are out there on a regular basis trying to out do each other. Also appears that they prey on unsuspecting or drunk targets that are outnumbered. Where are those cameras big brother???? Also with all the activity in the area it is unbelievable there aren't any witnesses or others willing to help out the victims.
Nicole Streeter
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 11:20 p.m.
I hope this isn't some sort of "Hazing" the Frat's have conjured up. That's pretty messed up regardless. I used to LOVE going out to eat after the bar scene at 3 am when I was in college there. People have come to a new level of depravity though in the past decade., so glad to know that our society thinks assaulting random people, minding their own business, is now a social pastime.
Birdie
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 7:46 p.m.
It seems like a lot more of this is going on than used to be, but I don;t know if there was less reporting on it or if the incidents have actually increased.
justcurious
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 8:34 p.m.
Birdie, I know there is a lot more of this going on. Ever since parents stopped being parents and started trying to be siblings to their kids.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 6:12 p.m.
Is any part of South U technically on campus? I don't think we need inebriated students carrying concealed weapons. What we do need is a judicial system that jails people for violence. By the time a criminal gets to the point where he's assaulting random strangers on the street, he has to have been in contact with the judicial system many, many times. This is what we get for electing judges who refuse to back the police and uphold the laws.
Bcar
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 7:24 p.m.
Please tell me aa.com which of these my comment violated? - Off-topic comments - Personal attacks against private individuals - Insensitivity to victims of accidents or crimes - Presuming guilt on the part of persons accused of crimes* - Using tragedies to make a political point - Posting personal information about individuals - Racist, sexist and offensive language, including abbreviated or masked swearing - Posting in all capital letters, which is viewed as shouting - Breaking copyright law - Commercial postings and press releases. Non-commercial postings can be entered on the Community Wall. ?? Must have been the part about listing facts and data...I get it...oops...
HB11
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 2:11 p.m.
Inebriation violates the CPL anyway, so if you carry, don't drink.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 6:42 p.m.
You're right. But I think the city "owns" the street and the sidewalk, even along that stretch in between the law quad and the regular quad. And certainly the stretch east of East U with the bars and most of the assaults is off-campus.
aabikes
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 6:19 p.m.
I think once you get west of E. university you're on campus. At least that's where the Libraries and Law school, etc. are. I could be wrong.
GoNavy
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 5:55 p.m.
The AAPD and the University of Michigan DPS need to get a handle on this sort of thing, before regular individuals have cause to believe that they might be "randomly jumped" while walking down South University (or any other portion of the campus) and decide that it's in their best interest to begin to protect themselves with concealed firearms (in violation of the current, if not misguided, Michigan Regents' declaration of a weapon-free campus).
Ricebrnr
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 7:22 p.m.
Incorrect, you can go into an establishment that serves liquor with a CPL if you know or should know that they don not derive the majority of their income from liquor sales. i.e. a restaurant vs a bar.
GoNavy
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 7:17 p.m.
@Ignatz- Most importantly, you cannot bring a firearm into an establishment that has explicitly notified patrons that they cannot bring firearms in (period, even if you have a license). As for restaurants that serve alcohol, if no sign is posted, the establishment must derive the majority of revenues from the sale of liquor. Specifically: "...where the primary source of income of the business is the sale of alcoholic liquor by the glass and consumed on the premises." You also shouldn't have been drinking (the bar is ridiculously low, to the point where even one drink will put you over the line).
Ignatz
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 7:02 p.m.
I don't believe you can go into an establishment that serves liquor with a concealed weapon, even though you have a permit to carry
smokeblwr
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 5:17 p.m.
Could these be those "Outsiders" referenced in the Ridealong With a Cop article that talks bout people from OUT OF TOWN descending upon South U to get in fights with our drunk UM students?
tdw
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 6:12 p.m.
You are correct no way the drunk UM students ( as you just mentioned ) could be doing anything like this.No way
Atticus F.
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 5:16 p.m.
When this type of thing happens on 4th Ave, the city uses every legal resource availible to shut the place down. Yet this type of thing happens nightly on South U. I would at the very least, like to see the bar owners working with police and instaling more video cameras while helping to identify the people involved. And if the bar owners are unwilling to help out, We should treat them in the same way that we did to Studio Four.
Bcar
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 5:25 p.m.
Great post and thought. Funny how that stuff works in our city... favoritism perhaps?? ;)
justcurious
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 8:33 p.m.
Atticus F. I agree with you...maybe for the first time ever.
Atticus F.
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 7 p.m.
4fingers, we have people being beaten unconsious by groups of thugs, people being hospitalized because they have had there heads slammed against the cement multiple times, ect.. In my opinion, this level of violence far surpasses the urgency of some kid getting into the bar on a fake ID. BTW, under age drinkers use fake ID's on that side of town as well...
4 Fingers
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 6:29 p.m.
Apples and oranges. I don't recall hearing anywhere that a bar on South U. had a 17 year old girl passed out in a booth at 3 a.m., or ANY bar owner on south U. getting a gun pulled on them, or assaulted. Drunks will fight. They all have cameras in and out. Maybe hit up City Hall and demand more Police presents on South U. They used to be on bikes, not sure if they still are.
a2roots
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 5:13 p.m.
Alcohol and stupid...ingredients that create super stupid. It appears thugs are on the loose as well. Just once these roving thugs need to pick on the wrong person and get a dose of their own medicine.
Ricebrnr
Mon, Sep 10, 2012 : 5:09 p.m.
That campus area sure is scary. Glad I avoid it as much as possible.
actionjackson
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 : 8:30 p.m.
These all seem to happen in the wee hours of the morning when most of us are not in the area. Alcohol and egos!