Assault adds to month of crime

By Drew Teague

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UK Police is interviewing suspects in the Saturday assault that took place behind the Kappa Sigma Fraternity house and may be nearing an arrest in the case.

UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said detectives interviewed one suspect and have identified another suspect who will soon be interviewed by police.

“The detectives are making progress when it comes to the investigation on this case,” Monroe said.

The assault occurred at 3:20 a.m. Saturday, when the victim was struck on the head and ran from the suspects.

“The victim was in the complex, the Four Pack area, and was confronted by two Black males and a White male,” Monroe said. “Apparently (the victim) was struck in the head, I guess twice, once by both Black males, then they took off running to the White male’s vehicle and fled the scene.”

Police do not know what the victim was struck with during the assault.

“We feel like these individuals involved with this are probably involved with some other stuff in and around campus,” Monroe said.

Monroe would not say if the suspects are students at the university but said arrests are possible in the case soon.

Monroe advises students to be aware of their surroundings on campus and to familiarize themselves with campus safety programs, including the availability of UKPD for an escort after the SAFECATS program has ended each evening.

“I get calls from parents all the time, that for some reason the parent didn’t know these services were available, even though we talk about them in advising conferences.”

Monroe stressed the importance of calling UKPD immediately after a crime has occurred to help police stitch the events together.

“Don’t wait 45 minutes, an hour, two hours or the next day before you call,” Monroe said. “What we’re finding out is, is that if we get the call as soon as something happens, it helps us piece things together and get that information actively gathered and put out, either in a crime bulletin or a UK Alert.”

Monroe wants to remind students that UK is a safe campus. The latest Reader’s Digest findings named UK the fourth safest campus in the nation.

“We have a safe campus. We have these rash (occurrences), that seem to happen once a year, every year in the fall,” Monroe said. “It’s always right there at the cluster of when school starts back.”

Monroe said the recent crimes were issued in a crime bulletin because police we not notified immediately, and the threat was not there when they were notified to issue a UK Alert.

UK Alerts can be sent out in a matter of minutes if need be. Dispatches have clearance to issue those without any higher up approval.