http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-uconnassault0503.artmay03,0,2579185.story



STORRS — - The editor of the University of Connecticut's student newspaper on Friday published a first-hand account of being sexually accosted while a crowd watched and cheered on her attackers during Spring Weekend.

In her account, Daily Campus Editorin-Chief Melissa Bruen wrote that a young man pinned her to a tree, thrust himself against her and began moaning as a crowd gathered last Saturday on the so-called rape trail leading to campus.

When she fought back, yelling that he had assaulted her, she wrote, another man said, "You think that was assault?" and pulled down her tube top, grabbing her breasts.

Bruen's friend Kevin Meacham found Bruen after the incident. She had collapsed on the ground and was frantically calling his name.

"She was hysterical," he said. "She was almost hyperventilating."

Bruen said she wrote the front-page story to raise awareness that these kinds of attacks happen and to urge students not to stand idly by when someone is in trouble.

"Maybe next time people will give it a second thought. If they see someone, they might either react or say something to discourage that from happening," Bruen said.

UConn President Michael Hogan, who had been standing at one end of the path that night urging students to be safe and not walk alone, said Friday he was horrified to hear of the assault. He contacted Bruen to check on her well-being.

"It just makes me feel sick to hear this," Hogan said. "We do so many things to discourage people from going to these parties and we offer so many other events."

Bruen filed a complaint with police, who are asking any witnesses to contact them at 860-429-6024.

Bruen said she was attacked on Hunting Lodge Road path, nicknamed the "rape trail" although UConn police, who patrol the path, said there has never been a rape there.

Bruen, a senior who will graduate next weekend, credited the university and police for taking many steps to try to safeguard Spring Weekend. Each year the university offers alternative events and runs prevention programs. Police and emergency workers send out small armies, both uniformed and undercover, to patrol the parties and the path.

"We have a very heavy presence on the path all night long, both on foot and on bicycles," UConn police Maj. Ronald Blicher said. They are supplemented by state troopers on bikes, state police Sgt. Brian Kennedy said.

Over the past few years, the university has taken steps to improve the wooded pathway, which links the Celeron Square Apartments to the campus, by paving it and adding more lighting, Blicher said.

Over the course of Spring Weekend, there were three sexual assaults, police said. In addition to the incident involving Bruen, someone was raped in a dorm by a person who knew the victim and there was an assault at the Carriage House party Thursday night, police said.

Bruen said in an interview that she drank three beers and two screwdrivers (orange juice and vodka) that night. She had a fight with her boyfriend at the Celeron party, she said. Upset, she stormed off and headed up the path alone.

Her boyfriend, Ethan Tucker, said Friday that he felt guilty afterward, thinking that if he had been with her the assault wouldn't have happened.

Bruen said she's been warned not to walk alone at night.

"I've always heard that. I don't know, I thought I'd be OK because I thought I was tough," Bruen said.

After she was attacked and the second man pulled down her shirt, she looked up and saw that she was surrounded by men.

"In one instant I realized how small I was," she said.

Bruen, who has bruises on her arms, told police she did not want to pursue charges against her attackers. She said she thought it would next to impossible to find them, and figured that police had more serious crimes to investigate.

Tolland State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky said it is not unusual for victims not to pursue charges immediately.

"We understand that sometimes victims of sexual assaults have legitimate and personal reasons for not wanting to initially pursue prosecution. For that reason, and because the allegations are so serious, the case is an open investigation with the UConn police department."

Bruen, a member of the university's Task Force for the Prevention of Violence on Campus, said she is upset that bystanders did not come to her aid, but instead cheered on her attackers.

"It's important that people realize that this happens. I wasn't in a city alleyway by myself. I was on campus, surrounded by hundreds of students," Bruen said. "There need to be Good Samaritans. In order to make UConn a safer place, people need to know about this."

Contact Grace E. Merritt at gmerritt@courant.com.

Courant Staff Writer David Owens contributed to this story.