On the evening of Saturday, Jan. 24, Yale police responded to emergency calls from undergraduates in Trumbull College, one of 12 residential colleges on the Yale campus. Several students reported that an individual had just entered their rooms under false pretenses, pretending to be looking for someone. Students in Trumbull College have been the victims of burglary this week, and a person matching the physical description of the individual, as well as the story of “looking for someone” has been seen several times in the college. (See this report from the Yale Daily News: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/01/21/series-of-thefts-unnerved-trumbull-students/)
On Saturday night, when students spotted him, they called police and described him as a tall, African-American, college-aged student wearing a black jacket and a red and white hat. This was the description that Yale police used as they converged on Trumbull and attempted to track down the suspect. During the efforts to locate and detain the suspect, a Yale College student, who closely matched the description of the suspect, was briefly detained and released by Yale police. The suspect, who was seen fleeing Trumbull College, was arrested shortly thereafter in Berkeley College (a residential college adjacent to Trumbull College) and will be charged with felony burglaries.
An internal review of the incident will be conducted by the Yale Police Department Chief’s Office.
