The recent trend of thefts around the University of Minnesota continued this week, in addition to one assault near Dinkytown.
Most of the reported thefts happened at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, on Harvard Street Southeast.
University of Minnesota Police Department Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said he expects crime rates to increase as the temperature rises.
Thefts
A series of thefts occurred on and near Harvard Street Southeast and Washington Avenue Southeast throughout the past week.
Four thefts happened at the Fairview Hospital Plaza Friday evening and Saturday. At least three cell phones and one purse were stolen, Miner said.
Three women were arrested for one of the cases involving a stolen cell phone, he said.
“It’s not uncommon to have a wave of thefts occurring in one area like that. … It could certainly be the same group that’s responsible,” Miner said. “Nothing’s established yet that the females we arrested were affiliated with the other cases.”
Another two thefts happened between Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 on Washington Avenue Southeast.
Of those thefts, one involved a woman who allegedly stole from the Commons Hotel, and according to a police report, she was seen carrying hotel property out of the building.
Commons Hotel Employee Tevin Stevens said he called UMPD when his coworker saw a woman walk outside from an employee-only back room.
“I went down there to look around, and I noticed all the lockers were open. So she must have been rummaging through stuff, taking stuff out of the lockers,” he said. “I noticed she stole my book bag.”
Stevens said he and his coworker called the police again to report things missing.
Assault near Dinkytown
One woman, 23, was assaulted by another woman on 15th Avenue Southeast and Fourth Street Southeast on Monday night, said Minneapolis Police Department Public Information Officer John Elder.
Mechanical engineering junior Cole Carlson, who witnessed the crime, said one woman pushed the other to the ground and fled in a vehicle with two other women.
“We followed them in their car down the road, and eventually we got them to stop and pull over, and we asked them what they did,” Carlson said. “They avoided the question, and two of them got out of the car and ran away, so my buddy chased them, and I stayed with the driver.”
The women said the woman who was pushed made inappropriate comments beforehand, Carlson said.
According to a police report, the woman who was pushed called the police but refused medical treatment.
