New details released regarding on-campus assault

The IU Police Department and an alleged assault victim’s mother have confirmed new details about an incident that occurred at approximately 11:48 p.m. Nov. 29 near the Student Recreational Sports Center.

The student’s mother said she is concerned about IUPD’s lack of communication with her and the lack of information they have shared with her in her son’s case.

IU Police Chief Keith Cash said if IUPD had been planning to release information about the assault to the public, they would have done so already in a text message alert. However, in a Sept. 27 attempted robbery at gunpoint near Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, IUPD did not send out text message alerts but issued a press release on its website and to local media.

Cash said a male IU student, who is also a student athlete, began a late-night run around 11 p.m. on Nov. 29. The student was running down Union Street, became tired and started to walk. While walking, he thought someone was following him. He resumed running and then began sprinting.

The student’s mother said he called a friend at 11:48 p.m. to let the friend know someone was following him while running and that he was near the SRSC. The friend told the student’s mother the line “went dead” during the call.

Cash said a white male with an athletic build caught up with the student from behind and told the student, “Don’t do anything stupid. You won’t get hurt.”

The student told IUPD he felt an object being pushed into his lower back. After he felt something in his back, he didn’t remember anything until he woke up sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. in woods near Griffy Lake without his shoes, phone or sweatpants.

The student’s mother said he climbed through the heavily wooded area to reach a road. He approached two or three houses and knocked on their doors before someone answered. The person who answered the door called the Bloomington Police Department at 3:43 a.m. on Nov. 30, Cash said. The student’s mother said he was taken to IU Health-Bloomington Hospital with hypothermia and a concussion.

Cash said results from the medical test will reveal further details about the case.

After the student’s friend received the 11:48 p.m. phone call, the friend called the student’s parents at 1:11 a.m. The student’s parents filed a police report with IUPD at 1:31 a.m. and were out searching for their son when they heard he had been found shortly after the 3:43 a.m. phone call to BPD.

The mother said she spoke with an IUPD detective Sunday, five days after the assault, and has not heard any kind of an update on the case. She also said BPD has not returned her phone call. She questioned the motive of her son’s alleged attacker and said she was concerned.

“Was it a robbery or was it a hazing thing?” she asked. “He has a $200 North Face jacket on, but they took his shoes. If they’ll do this to an athletic man, I’d hate to be a girl walking around.”

— Michael Majchrowicz contributed to this report