By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 6, 1998

Police Beat

Two female students told university police they were pelted with painting supplies and beer cups early Friday while trying to retrieve iron letters they believe were taken from their sorority house by Phi Gamma Delta fraternity members.

One of the injured women reported she and four other Alpha Chi Omega sorority sisters went to the Phi Gamma Delta house, 1801 E. First St., at 12:57 a.m. to ask for their letters back.

A group of fraternity members began laughing and taunting the women, saying they didn't have the letters, and another group of jeering and laughing men on the roof then threw a barrage of objects at the women, reports stated.

Two of the women sustained large bumps on their heads and were packing ice on their injuries when police arrived about 1 a.m.

The injured students told police they had been hit by beer cups and bottles that splashed them with purple paint.

Police went to the Phi Gamma Delta house but could not locate any suspects in the assault. They did discover, however, that a group of men had been painting a mural on the roof using paint that matched the liquid sprayed on the injured women, reports stated.

A fraternity officer retrieved the missing iron letters and handed them over to police, and said he would try to find the men involved in the assault before the end of the semester.

A bloodied student told university police he was beaten by fraternity brothers during an early Friday argument at the Zeta Beta Tau house, 1011 N. Tyndall Ave.

Police arrived at 3:02 a.m., but members would not let them in, police reports stated. Officers heard loud voices and people running behind the locked front door, reports stated.

The fraternity's vice president opened the door seconds later, and police spotted a student bleeding from a cut above his eye and hands.

Police determined he was the victim of the assault, but handcuffed him because he was agitated and clenching his fists, reports stated.

The injured student told police he was assaulted by two other fraternity members, but officers could not learn more about the incident because of the student's drunken state.

Other members took the bloodied man to University Medical Center for treatment, and the fraternity president told the officers he would locate the two suspected assailants and call police as soon as possible.

Police returned to the house at 4:30 a.m. and spoke with the two students accused of beating their fraternity brother, reports stated.

Both told police in separate interviews that the injured student had been acting belligerent, then swung and hit one of them with a hammer before the other retaliated, reports stated.

One of the men told police the student was yelling anti-Semitic remarks at other fraternity members and that he bloodied his hands by punching a window, reports stated.

Police made no arrests but decided to turn the case over to university police detectives for future action.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.