Madison police say drugs and alcohol were the primary motives for two recent campus-area crimes, which left one man unconscious and another with a damaged apartment.
According to a Madison Police Department report, Timothy A. Collins, 42, of Madison, allegedly pounded on the apartment door of a 27-year-old resident of 416 N. Butler St. Collins then allegedly grabbed the throat of the 27-year-old’s friend and demanded pharmaceutical drugs.
After Collins had taken bottles of pills from the friend’s pocket, a neighbor, awoken by the disturbance, called police. As police arrested and began to remove Collins from the apartment, Collins allegedly banged his head intentionally into one of the apartment walls. He has been charged with six crimes, including Criminal Damage to Property and First Degree Reckless Endangerment.
MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said the incident was not related to gang activity or University of Wisconsin-related crime, but was instead an isolated incident between two acquaintances from outside the UW community.
“These weren’t strangers,” DeSpain said. “I don’t think this is indicative of something on campus. Nothing… indicated to me that this was student activity”.
Ald. Bridget Maniaci, who represents District 2 where incident occurred, said the neighborhood where the burglary occurred has undergone changes over the last several years as UW students and new graduates have begun to live in other Madison neighborhoods.
“That side of the isthmus is in the middle of a transition where UW-Madison undergraduates are living in less numbers,” Maniaci said. “The neighborhood on the whole is safe. However, because students are choosing to live in expensive high-rise apartments, there are some issues in neighborhood stability.”
Maniaci said the property has “been on the radar” and police have decided not to label it a chronic nuisance because the tenant has been trying to avoid further problems with homeless people who he let into his apartment.
In another incident, a man was left unconscious early Saturday morning while waiting at a late-night food cart at the intersection of State and Lake streets.
According to the police report, a 23-year-old man was intoxicated and began speaking with other customers while waiting in line at the cart. Another customer at the food cart punched the man after becoming frustrated with the talking, leaving the victim unconscious and still on the ground when police were brought to the scene.
DeSpain could not specify what the victim had said that caused the suspect to react violently.
DeSpain added the victim initially refused the police assistance but was later transported to the hospital for evaluation after police and paramedics convinced him to cooperate.
The suspect is described as a white male, 5’10”, 160 pounds, between 20 and 25 years old, wearing a gray and white polo with a Milwaukee Brewers baseball cap.
DeSpain said State Street is still a safe area because of a high community police presence.
“I continue to see that there are fights that take place, particularly after bar time, but I don’t think that’s any different than when I was in school 25 years ago,” DeSpain said.
