From IDS Reports
Police are investigating an alleged assault after a man said Saturday he was hit in the face with a brick in an alley near Peoples Park.
Bloomington police received a call at about 2:40 p.m. from the parents of the victim’s girlfriend, who said a man had been shot near Kirkwood Avenue, police said. Officers searched the area for a possible victim but did not find one. They also called back the complainants in their search for the victim.
About an hour after the original call police received a call from the victim, who told them he was the person they were looking for. Officers met with him in person and realized he had not been shot. He did, however, have visible minor injuries to his face above his right eye.
The 38-year-old man told police he’d been walking down Kirkwood when a man he knew years ago approached him and asked him for a dollar. The victim told the acquaintance, whom he described as an older black man, he had no money.
The man continued to follow him, he told police. When the victim cut through an alleyway, the man pulled out a small knife and the two struggled, the victim said. During the struggle, the man with the knife picked up a brick and hit the victim in the head with it.
After the incident, the man called his girlfriend and told her that he’d been stabbed, not shot, though he hadn’t been stabbed either.
The victim could not give a more specific description of the alley other than that it was near Peoples Park, police said. Though the assault was originally reported as a robbery, no money or personal belongings were taken.
Jack Evans
