Baltimore school officials and police have scheduled an assembly Tuesday with Digital Harbor High School students after a series of problems at the Inner Harbor, including an assault and robbery that caused the victim to fall into the water.
“We know Digital Harbor students are responsible because of the uniforms [the suspects] were wearing,” said Baltimore police spokesman Det. Donny Moses.
The latest incident occurred Thursday after school let out at about 4:10 p.m., police said, when a group of Digital Harbor High students attacked a woman walking by the Harborplace Light Street pavilion near Phillips Restaurant.
According to Moses, the students hit her in the back of the head, which she attempted to ignore. After they hit her again, she fell to the ground. They punched her repeatedly and grabbed her purse, running north and throwing some of the purse?s contents into the water. They kept the woman?s cell phone, ID, credit cards and gift cards.
Still dizzy from the beating, the victim fell into the water when she attempted to retrieve her possessions from the water, Moses said.
Phillips Restaurant called police who, with the help of the victim?s friend, pulled her from the water. She refused medical treatment, but police took her to the Inner Harbor Marina, giving her scrubs to wear and drying her clothes, Moses said.
Rusty Scupper General Manager Ed Prutzer was at the police station when he noticed the woman shivering. He brought her coffee and crab soup.
“Anytime something like that happens around here, we try to help out any way we can,” Prutzer said.
After the incident, police talked with school officials at Digital Harbor and learned students there had been involved in similar incidents over the last few days. School officials will tell students Tuesday they are no longer allowed to walk through the Inner Harbor but must walk around it, Moses said.
Police have also begun posting officers along the pavilion as school closes, Moses said.
