Suspects charged in assault of two students

Anthony Hemingway, 20, a Princeton resident, and Quosheon Williams, 19, of Morrisville, Pa., were charged with two counts of aggravated assault, criminal restraint, kidnapping and robbery in connection with the incident. Hemingway was also charged with possession of marijuana “with intent to distribute in a school zone.” Both were arrested at around noon Tuesday without incident.

The press release stated that two men approached a student who was walking near Ivy Club at 1:55 a.m. Sunday. One of the men grabbed the student around the neck and dragged him into an alley, where the attacker began to strangle the student. Public Safety Deputy Director Charles Davall confirmed in an e-mail that the student was a male Princeton undergraduate.

The second suspect then began “beating and punching” the student and demanded money, the Borough report stated. The student turned over his wallet with credit cards and cash.

Another male student tried to intervene during the incident, but the perpetrators attacked that student and knocked him temporarily unconscious. Borough Police Lt. Nicholas Sutter called the second student in an e-mail merely a “passerby.” It is unclear whether the two students had been previously acquainted.

Both victims were treated for injuries, one at McCosh Health Center, according to the Borough’s report.

Hemingway did not post his $600,000 bail and is being held at the Mercer County Detention Center. Williams is being held on $430,000 bail. Hemingway was allegedly “in possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana packaged for distribution,” the press release stated.

Borough Police said they located the suspects with assistance from the West Windsor, Lawrence and Princeton Township police departments.

Sutter declined to comment on whether the two suspects had criminal histories, citing robbery as the motivation for the attack. The victim was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Sutter said in his e-mail. He added that it is unclear whether alcohol played a role in the incident.

A student identifying himself as the second victim explained in an e-mail to the ‘Prince’ that after he “intervened and yelled” at the suspects, they approached him. One of the alleged assailants “pushed over two of the girls I was with,” he said. The student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the men began to leave, but he “ran after them, and one of them blind-sided me and knocked me down.”

He added that he was “kicked a few times,” after which the suspects got into a car and left the scene.

One of the girls accompanying the second victim noted the license plate number of the assailants’ car, he said, and Public Safety and the Borough Police were notified.