Two female suspects attacked and robbed a UB student on Sunday morning after he let them into Red Jacket Quad on North Campus where he lives.
The strong-arm robbery occurred at 6:05 a.m. The suspects forcibly pushed the victim into a wall after he let them into Red Jacket Quad, removing his wallet from his back pocket and stealing $100. They also took his iPhone.
"I went out Saturday night with a couple of friends, and we got back pretty late Sunday morning" said the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, in an email. "Thinking I had left my laundry in the dryer, I went to the laundry room to retrieve it. On my way to the laundry room, past the glass doors, I didn't see the girls, as it was pretty dark out. But I did see them on my way back.
"Thinking they were UB students who probably didn't have their IDs, I opened the door to let them in. What happened next, however, was completely unexpected and took me by surprise. Within moments of opening the door, I was being assaulted and robbed of several of my possessions, like cash and my iPhone."
As the student was being attacked, he said multiple things were running through his head, including the thought that the girls could be armed.
"These girls had the audacity to try to rob a guy, and I'm assuming they were confident in their chances of success; otherwise, they wouldn't have tried it," the victim said. "That led me to initially believe that they might have a weapon, so any action on my part that would escalate the situation or induce a panic among them wouldn't have benefited me."
The suspects fled to the Red Jacket Lot and are believed to have driven in a blue SUV toward J.J. Audubon Parkway, according to the University Police incident report.
"The fact that they took my phone led to a delay in [my] ability to contact authorities," the victim said. "Otherwise, things might have turned out very differently."
The suspects are both described as dark-skinned females; one approximately 5-feet-6-inches tall and of an average build, with straight long hair and a bracelet-style tattoo on her wrist. The second female is described as being about 5-feet-9-inches tall and around 200 pounds, with hair that just covers her ears.
The Guide To Residence Hall Living, which each residential student is given, and the Guidelines and Regulations section of UB's Campus Living website both address the issue of allowing strangers in dormitory buildings.(The Campus Living website reads, "Help keep the building secure by not letting in strangers.")
But many students take the act of allowing strangers into their buildings lightly.
"I lived in the dorms the first two years at UB and usually let people in all the time without even asking if they had a card," said Tim Klein, an accounting major who graduated from UB last spring. "It was easier to do that than to turn them down and say, ‘I don't believe you.'"
Sophomore Kate Grimm, a resident of Red Jacket, said she wouldn't stand around waiting for a stranger to let her in, as the suspects did.
"I've forgotten my key, but I call someone from inside the door to let me in," Grimm said. "I don't stand by the door and wait there; I know enough people to call."
The victim is moving on, and surprisingly enough, he feels sympathetic toward his attackers.
"My strongest feeling after the incident was one of anger – anger at the fact that I had been taken advantage of when I thought I was helping someone," the victim said. "Then time passed, and I started to think more clearly. I actually began to feel sorry for them. These girls are so desperate that they had to rob someone for some quick cash, probably to buy drugs, and in retrospect, they did look like crack addicts."
"I got a replacement phone the next day, and $100 won't break me. But [the suspects] have to look over their shoulders all the time for police officers, they have a useless phone, and they probably already smoked through all the drugs they bought with the stolen money" the victim said. "That's pathetic. I feel sorry for them."
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