Editor’s note: Last update at February 14, at 3:30 am

Two students were mugged at the corner of Waterman and Melville avenues Sunday evening but helped police arrest two of their assailants after a friend came to their aid.

Sophomore Aaron Belkin said he and classmate Eric Tsai were mugged by four assailants as they were walking toward the Delmar Loop.

Junior Chris Holt, a friend of the two students, picked up Belkin in his car after seeing him chase two of the assailants on foot. Belkin and Holt continued the chase by car, and they updated the police of the assailants’ position until the two assailants were arrested on the Loop.

The four assailants were described as black males wearing dark sweatshirts. Belkin said the four followed him and Tsai toward the Loop and physically assaulted the two around 8 p.m. Tsai surrendered his wallet and cell phone to the assailants.

At least one assailant instructed Tsai to run toward Washington University. Two of the assailants fled the scene while the remaining two pursued Belkin, who was running around the area looking for help.

“I started yelling, ‘Someone call the police,’ and nobody heard,” Belkin said. “I was helpless; I was trying to find someone, and they were punching my friend.”

Belkin said he saw a girl getting out of her car on Kingsbury Boulevard and told her to remain in the vehicle and call the police. The assailants then tried to flee, and Belkin pursued them.

Holt said he was driving on Melville toward Delmar Boulevard when he saw Belkin pursuing two of the assailants on foot near the Greenway dumpsters. Holt, who eventually drove on Delmar to Leland Avenue, picked up Belkin at the street corner before making a U-turn on Delmar to pursue the two suspects.

During this episode, Holt said, he dialed 911 and continued to relay the suspects’ location to the University City Police Department.

“We ran down there, and I made eye contact with one [of the suspects], and he looked at me and looked really frazzled,” Holt said. “He made wild eyes at me. He looked so angry, like he was about to hurt someone.”

The chase concluded on Delmar near the Tivoli Theatre, where police arrested the two assailants around 8:10 p.m., Holt and Belkin said. The suspects were identified because they had Tsai’s phone and wallet.

Tsai, whose face was bruised, arrived and identified the suspects by their faces. The entire ordeal ended by 8:20 p.m.

UCPD would not comment on or confirm the robbery.

Holt, whose actions helped catch the two suspects, said he was trying to help his friends.

“I’ve never heard they actually caught the person who did it, and I saw the two guys there and thought I’d see if I could follow these guys and just help out,” Holt said.

Belkin and Holt were not injured.

Belkin blamed poor lighting and not enough emergency blue lights for some of the events of the night.

“I couldn’t find a blue light, and I couldn’t find security patrol,” Belkin said. The lighting is bad: They came out of the shadows, and they were wearing dark clothes. We’re so close to campus it’s ridiculous.”

Sam Guzik | Student Life

Seniors Wyatt Crane (left) and Andrew Weisberg (right) look on at a University City City Council meeting Monday after speaking about what the city’s zero-tolerance policy implies for students in the area.

On Monday night, senior Wyatt Crane spoke at a University City council meeting about the increasing frequency of the University City Police Department’s invocation of the newly enacted zero-tolerance policy.

Two days later, Crane was arrested outside of his Kingsbury Boulevard apartment after being issued a citation for noise from a gathering that he said he did not even attend.

Crane and fellow senior Andrew Weisberg mobilized dozens of students earlier this week in the hopes of making peace with residents and the city government. His arrest is symptomatic of an increasing number of student arrests that have come at the helm of the city’s zero-tolerance policy, which was enacted this March.

Under this policy, the University City Police Department issues a summons every time it responds to a reported noise disturbance.

Crane said he was walking home around midnight after doing his laundry at the nearby Greenway Apartments when he saw a police car in the back of his apartment and an officer standing on his third floor fire escape balcony.

The door to Crane’s apartment was locked, and no one answered when the officer knocked.

Crane approached the door and the officer asked him if he lived in that specific apartment. Crane confirmed that he did, but explained that neither he nor his two roommates had attended the gathering.

The neighbors across the hall—who are close friends of Crane—had used both of the apartments to host a gathering of approximately 20 people.

Since the noise was emanating from his apartment, Crane said he took responsibility and cooperated with the officer as he was issued a noise citation.

According to Crane’s account, the officer took out handcuffs after issuing the citation and asked him to put his hands behind his back.

When Crane asked why he was being arrested, the officer said that he was “carrying out the procedure under the zero-noise tolerance policy.“

Senior Micah Kroeze, who lives across the hall from Crane, said he watched as Crane was issued a citation and went back inside. Fifteen minutes later, he was shocked to learn that Crane had been arrested.

“For the first 15 minutes that I was there, the officer was not arresting him at all, he was just taking down his information,” Kroeze said. “An arrest was never mentioned. There was no way in my mind that he was being arrested.”

Both Kroeze and Crane said that the officer never read Crane his Miranda rights—as all police officers are required to do under federal law.

With the case pending in court one year later, students and administrators remain mindful of security on the Loop.

The University City Police Department has not increased its presence on the Delmar Loop since King’s death.

UCPD Chief Charles Adams said the department had already increased its presence of patrol officers on the Loop before King’s death, and it maintains these heightened levels today.

To improve security further, a pilot program began last April whereby the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) coordinates with the University City and St. Louis police departments to patrol the Loop.

Based on preliminary results, the joint patrol effort seems to be improving safety on the Loop.

“Looking at a snapshot of crime statistics from that area would suggest that it’s been a very positive thing to have operating there,” WUPD Chief Don Strom said. “The feedback we get from business people in the area has been extremely positive.”

Strom said the program was not started in direct response to King’s death.

“[It was] a terrible tragedy, but I think most people felt pretty safe in the Loop at the time, and I think they feel pretty safe today,” Strom said.

The joint patrol program began in response to a larger perceived need to keep all people who visit the Loop safe.

“It was more about wanting to maintain a certain type of quality of life for users of the Loop, and we felt by joint efforts we could do that,” Strom said. A goal of the joint patrol program is to maintain a “healthy and vibrant business district” on the Loop, Strom added.

Despite the shooting of King and other crimes that have occurred, students and administrators say they generally feel safe visiting the Loop.

Sophomore Emma Liss said she is not less likely to visit the Loop after hearing about violent crimes that occur there.

“I’ve never gone by myself,” Liss said, “[but] incidents like this happen everywhere.”

Assistant to the Chancellor Rob Wild echoed Liss’ sentiment on safety in the Loop.

“One of the great things about our campus is that we are in a vibrant, urban area,” Wild said. “As is the case with anytime you’re living in an urban area, you should take precautions. Don’t walk by yourself, make sure you have a cell phone with you, things like that.”

King’s death also raised the issue of gun control, particularly in urban areas.

“Stricter gun control, unless it kept a firearm out of the hands of the particular individual who [killed] Sergeant King, I don’t know that it would have made a difference,” Strom said. “I don’t think it’s a matter of anything that specifies the Loop in particular as it relates to firearms.”

Regardless of individual sentiment toward safety on the Loop, the University City and Washington University communities commemorate King and all fallen police officers. UCPD held a memorial on Oct. 31 commemorating fallen officers of the University City police department, and the city made a monument to honor those fallen officers.

“[King] was an extremely professional and compassionate police officer,” Strom said. “We certainly grieve not only for him but for his wife and family.”

Wild echoed Strom’s statement.

“We lost one of our distinguished alums last year when this happened,” Wild said. “The biggest part of this tragedy is the loss of a career police officer and an alumnus of Washington University.”