Ann Arbor police detectives investigating assault on Notre Dame student
A University of Notre Dame student is recovering after being punched in the face Saturday - apparently because he was wearing a shirt bearing his university's name, Ann Arbor police said.
The 20-year-old was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital with a laceration to his upper lip and a swollen nose after the 2 p.m. assault at State Street and McKinley Avenue, said Det. Sgt. Brian Jatczak. The attack occurred about 90 minutes before the football game.
Jatczak could not confirm a report that the student underwent reconstructive surgery.
The victim, who was with a 25-year-old male friend who attends U-M, believes he was sucker punched because of his shirt, Jatczak said.
The attacker is described as white, 6 feet, 3 inches tall, 190 pounds, and was wearing U-M basketball clothing.
Detectives continue to interview witnesses, Jatczak said.
The Notre Dame Security Police, who also are looking into the incident, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Anyone with information can the Ann Arbor Police Department's tip line at (734) 794-6939.
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at leehiggins@annarbor.com or 734-623-2527.
Comments
bsp
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 12:11 p.m.
I think it is really interesting that this story hit the 'news'. The same thing, a sucker punch square in the face, happened to my 17 year-old son before the Western game and we couldn't even find a cop to report anything, it was ridiculous! We were walking around the corner of State turning right onto Hoover(which I will never do again, it was insane with partiers)on the way to the game around 2 pm. We were on the street across from the second house on the right of Hoover, and some guy was walking away from the house and threw his beer up in the air and it splattered on my son and me, as well as my friend and her 16 year-old son. My son said, nicely, not at all in a mean way, "hey dude, what's the deal?" The guy went absolutely ballistic, started shoving him, saying "Do you want to fight?" My son was saying "no", backing up with his hands up in the air. Before we knew what was happening, the guy sucker punched him, tight fisted, so hard it made such a huge pop I thought he was going to spit some teeth out. My son instantly started bleeding from the mouth, and had 2 huge gashes in his mouth. The guy didn't even have a UM or Western t-shirt on, looked about 23-27, seemed almost like a non-student trying to get in on some parties. I was totally disgusted, don't remember these kinds of parties/jerks around when I went here. (Now I am sounding like an old lady!) Anyway, we instantly started looking for a cop. Frankly, the guy was so insane my girlfriend and I were kind of afraid of getting near him. I convinced my son not to retaliate, who knows what kind of freak this guy was? We walked up as far as Elbel field and got some ice from a vendor for his mouth, still couldn't find a cop. I saw a firetruck way down Division from us, so we walked down, told him and he called a police unit over. He and the officer that showed up were really nice, but at that point there was not much they could do. The cop explained that this happens *all* the time, in fact we got in his cruiser to go back down Hoover to look for the guy, and in that short time another call came through that someone else got sucker punched, by a different person. This amazes me. If any other kind of 'drug' like alcohol reeked so much havoc on society, it would be outlawed. Makes me crazy. We never found the guy and we made a police report, but I never thought this would be 'important' enough to report to the news. It would also help if all the games started at noon, and UM didn't give in to get the TV $ to have the games later. Then the kids wouldn't have as much time to get so wasted.
jrigglem
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 11:42 a.m.
It was PJ!! No, I'm just kidding. I do however think there is irony between his comment and this story though. I hope they do find out whoever did this and punishes them for bad sportsmanship or whatever.
uawisok
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 10:06 a.m.
The "Leaders and the Best"...not so much for fans and sportsmanship??
mrshicks1223
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:49 a.m.
With the random acts of violence happening every day everywhere, this doesn't surprise me at all.
Kayjay
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:42 a.m.
So blame it on the entire U of M student body, and the entire population of Ann Arbor, as you have when something happens at OSU games in Columbus!
A2Dave
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:39 a.m.
Ann Arbor has a nearly unique reputation among major football college towns for treating opposing visitors civilly, often even hospitably. Over the years I have read a number of letters to the Editor from visitors commenting on how well they were treated. This kind of incident is serious and seriously regrettable; looking for or assuming something in the ND visitor's behavior somehow justified it is unacceptable. These are friendly rivalries, and we need to maintain our well-deserved reputation for providing maximum competition on the field, and mature civility off the field.
Greg Dooley
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:37 a.m.
We all wish things like this didn't happen and I'm sure alcohol was involved and that's no excuse, etc. etc. All I'm saying is rarely does a punch come flying solely because of a t-shirt (even in Columbus).
Barb
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:20 a.m.
As if that's even relevant. No one deserves that. Makes us look so classy. Not.
DanielF
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 8:16 a.m.
Greg- home football games attract a lot of riff-raff to Ann Arbor. It is not improbable that the ND student was minding his own business when he was attacked for no good reason.
Greg Dooley
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 : 7:51 a.m.
Let me guess. He was just standing there, minding his business and a guy came up, out of the blue, and punched him squarely in the face. At 2pm. I'm sure he wasn't doing or saying anything.