Late Saturday night, a woman was seen being chased by a male around 10:30 p.m. across from the Beta Theta Pi house on Patterson Street.
Two residents of Barnhart residence hall, whose room overlooked the incident, reported to the Eugene Police Department that the female was outside the fraternity house, trying to get away from a male suspect. The suspect was pulling her back toward the fraternity house. She escaped from him momentarily and attempted to run away when she crossed Patterson Street and was nearly struck by a car. The male then caught up to the female in front of Barnhart and pulled her back to the alley between the Patterson House and Beta Theta Pi’s fraternity house.
Both the male and female appeared to be drunk, according to eyewitnesses.
“We were just very concerned,” said one witness who wished to remain anonymous. “We were a little surprised to see something so obvious going on in such a public place, but mostly we were worried for the girl.”
The two left their room and went down to the lobby to tell a resident assistant about the incident, who went with them outside to look for the suspect and victim. After searching the area, the witnesses could not find either.
Police arrived shortly after and also looked around the area, according to witnesses.
The male was described to be a white male of medium build with dark hair, wearing a shirt with jeans.
Toby Fish, president of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University, explained that the male was not a member of his fraternity.
“A couple of our members went out to help them, and they ran across our yard,” Fish said. “But other than that, our house was not involved with the incident.”
Fish said that the two had come from somewhere behind their house. According to Fish, the female, who Fish believes to be the male’s girlfriend, had too much to drink earlier. She had become hostile and refused help from her boyfriend, prompting her to escape from his grasp and run across the street. The male was simply trying to get his girlfriend back to a house.
Eugene police department arrived on the scene soon after, defusing the situation.