In a bizarre and apparently unprovoked attack, an unidentified man assaulted a Dartmouth student near Tuck Mall in the early hours of Saturday morning.
While returning to his dormitory at around 1 a.m., the student was overwhelmed by an assailant who emerged from the cemetery which runs behind the Gold Coast residence halls and bit him on the neck, according to Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone.
The student also suffered several blows to the head before his attacker -- accompanied by a female who did not participate in the assault -- fled the scene.
A "crime alert" posted by Safety and Security late yesterday night reported that the student was speaking with three other males prior to the attack, but does not make clear their role in the incident.
"He just tackled me and started beating me," said the student, who spoke to The Dartmouth on condition of anonymity.
He explained that the attacker had taken him by surprise along the dimly lit path and "held down my arms with his knees." The student was left with a black eye and abrasions to the face.
"It appears that the attack was unprovoked," Giaccone said, describing the attacker as a white male of "about college age," though he could not confirm whether the attacker was a Dartmouth student.
The victim described his assailant as about six feet tall and of medium build.
"He appeared to me to be older than of college age," he said, though he admitted that the night's darkness made any clear identification difficult.
The student returned to his dormitory and contacted Safety and Security after the attacker and his female companion fled. Hanover Police received notification of the incident at 4:41 a.m. on Saturday, according to Giaccone.
Town police are currently investigating the assault, but any clear motivation for the attack remains elusive.
Giaccone admitted he was unsure of how long the case would take to resolve or whether the assailant still posed any danger to the community.
"We have some leads to work on but whether they will pan out we don't know," he said. No arrests had yet been made in the case yesterday night.
The student was taken to Dick's House for treatment following the attack and was later released after speaking with Safety and Security and Hanover Police officers.
"You can tell by the type of the attack that it was obviously unusual," Giaccone said, noting that the movie "Queen of the Damned" -- a vampire film -- opened in theaters on Feb. 22, just hours before the biting incident.
"It's pure speculation," Giaccone said of any connection between the events.
Safety and Security declined to comment on the incident.
