An assault on two CU women by a CU student this past weekend has people thinking about what they can do to be safe in Boulder.
Early Sunday morning, the two women were walking near Arapahoe Avenue and Lincoln Place when a CU student, identified as Galen Bercaw, allegedly attacked them.
The girls were able to escape and got the help of four men, who subdued the alleged attacker until police arrived.
Norman “Mattie” Moore, a 22-year-old senior English major and one of the men who came to the girls’ rescue, said he heard screams and then saw the girls running toward him and his friends.
“We heard screams and it was apparent they were not just people having a good time; it was definitely a cry for help,” Moore said. “The next thing we saw was two girls running around the corner of Lincoln and Arapahoe, so they got away from him on their own accord. We just ran to where they ran from to see if we could find whoever was around.”
He said that based on the girls’ description, the men apprehended the suspect and subdued him until police arrived. He said the attacker appeared to be intoxicated.
“He might have been on some kind of drugs, but he was definitely drunk,” Moore said. “He tried to speak to us when we talked to him, and we couldn’t understand a word he said.”
Paris Bradley, a 21-year-old junior broadcast major and one of the assault victims, declined to comment on the actual incident, but said that though she personally has not recovered it has not changed her view of Boulder.
“I fully understand that [this] was not normal,” Bradley said. “Right now, I don’t feel safe at all. I’m very on edge and terrified, but I know that Boulder is a safe place, and that shouldn’t reflect everyone in Boulder.”
Moore agreed that the incident was random, and said it doesn’t change his view of Boulder or the Hill.
“It did seem like a pretty random attack,” Moore said. “It didn’t really seem like there was any kind of motive. I still think people are just out to have a good time, and people aren’t malicious.”
Bradley said the best advice for anyone who may encounter an incident like this is to fight back.
“If they’re ever attacked, just fight like hell and scream,” Bradley said. “A lot of girls think of not fighting back or not screaming because they’re too afraid to. If they hadn’t heard our screams, [the men] probably wouldn’t have come running around that corner.”
Bronson Hilliard, CU spokesperson, said he commends the men who stepped in.
“Those young men are to be applauded for intervening when somebody needed help,” Hilliard said.
Though Hilliard said the university has no formal comment to make regarding the incident, he said it does appear to be a random attack, and the university will continue to communicate to students about the need for extra awareness when they are out around Boulder.
Hilliard also said the men displayed something the university stresses to students, called bystander intervention.
“We [have stressed] this part of our messaging to students now for the last couple of years – the importance of bystander intervention,” Hilliard said. “That’s encouraging people to not be passive witnesses…to get help, to call for help. If they can intervene in a way that doesn’t risk their personal safety to a large degree, we encourage students to intervene [and] to help.”
Hilliard said right now the best advice for students is to stick together and call for help if an incident occurs.
“Go out together, take your cell phone, stay in well-lit areas if you can,” Hilliard said. “Always yell for help if you fear danger. Use your cell phone to call 911. We’re going to keep up those messages to our student body.”
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Lindsay Wilcocks at Lindsay.wilcocks@colorado.edu.
