Two men broke up an assault after a man attacked a group of women when they refused to give him their pizza outside the Bierman Place Apartments early Friday morning.

The man was later arrested and booked at the Hennepin County Jail , according to a Minneapolis police report.

University of Minnesota communications junior Sarah Pearson said she and her friends were returning from Mesa Pizza when the 23-year-old suspect started following them and asking for their food.

“He was really aggressive about it,” Pearson said. “He was really drunk, I think.”

University police, who dealt with the incident, didn’t test the man’s blood alcohol content, said Deputy Chief Chuck Miner . They usually only test suspects who are underage or operating a vehicle.

The man punched Pearson’s friend in the face after she kept ignoring him, and then punched Pearson when she told him to stop.

Kinesiology senior Ben Wunrow said he and his friend saw the attack from across the street.

“There’s no reason that a guy should ever hit a girl,” Wunrow said. “We wanted to stop that.”

Wunrow and his friend tackled the suspect to the ground but not before he punched Wunrow in the jaw.

Both Wunrow’s and Pearson’s groups thought the incident was over, so they started walking away. But the suspect caught up with them and punched Wunrow’s friend.

At that point, police arrived and found the suspect shirtless and yelling in the street, the police report said. They booked him for fifth degree assault.

“I’ve never really felt unsafe at the U, even at night,” Pearson said. “This is the first time I felt like maybe I should be careful.”

Woman fights off robber

A woman fought off a robber late Saturday night near the corner of 10th and University avenues southeast, according to a Minneapolis police report.

The woman told police she saw the suspect ride a bike past her while she was talking on her phone. The man then turned around and rode up to her.

The suspect told the victim he was new in town, the report said. He asked her if she could make a call for him.

When the woman started dialing, the suspect knocked her to the ground and tried to take her phone.

The woman told police she fought the man and threw her coffee on his shirt. The man fled on foot, leaving his hat and bike behind. He didn’t take the victim’s phone.

Police found the woman with small cuts and scrapes on her legs, but she refused medical attention, the report said.

University police sent an email alert about the crime to all students, faculty and staff members Monday .

Miner said federal law requires the department to alert the University community when serious crimes happen within a block of University buildings or registered student organizations.

In this case, an email was sent because the crime occurred near student apartments and sororities, he said.

Minneapolis police Sgt. Bill Palmer said the attempted robbery is still under investigation.

Student arrested for disorderly conduct

Minneapolis police arrested a University student for disorderly conduct early Sunday morning on Fifth Street Southeast between 14th and 15th avenues southeast.

The student and another man were shouting at each other on the sidewalk, a police report said. An officer tried to break up the argument.

Palmer said the student told police he wouldn’t be handcuffed and kept pulling his hands away from the officer.

An officer eventually had to wrestle the student to the ground. The other man, who Palmer said was cooperative, wasn’t cited or arrested.

Suspects smash cars in University Avenue auto shop

Four men caused more than $2,000 in damage to cars in an auto body repair shop in Prospect Park on July 31 , according to a Minneapolis police report.

One of the suspects is a contractor who’d previously worked with Titan Auto and Tire Repair on University Avenue Southeast. He and another suspect had demanded money from the shop’s owner earlier in the week.

Palmer said no arrests have yet been made in the case.

David Samec , the only employee in the shop at the time of the incident, said four men came in the morning of July 31, asking for money they said the shop owed them.

Samec told the men he wasn’t the owner and didn’t know what they were talking about.

One of the men was holding something in his waistband, the police report said, which Samec said he thought was a gun.

Samec said the men told him to sit down and threatened to hurt him if he intervened.

“I didn’t want to get hurt,” Samec said. “I have a family.”

The four men smashed the windows of two cars left in the shop for repairs, then fled.

Dennis Browne , who owns the shop, said the men broke the windows of two cars — and smashed the mirrors of one — with hammers.

The repairs will be expensive, Browne said, because the type of glass used in the windows is rare.

After the incident, Samec said he’s worried about coming in to work.

“I was terrified,” he said.