Northeastern University Police report that two students were mugged in the area of Albert and Ruggles streets between 9 and 11 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
In both cases, the attacker approached the students, struck up a conversation, then demanded their valuables.
Although no weapons were shown in either incident, the suspect indicated he had one.
Northeastern University Police say they are stepping up patrols in the area.
Yesterday morning, another Northeastern student was attacked on Huntington Avenue on the other side of the Northeastern campus.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Hand over your lupines!
By anon
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 1:00pm
Sorry, couldn't resist. Description of said mugger?
No description of the mugger?
By anon
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 1:27pm
No description of the mugger?
Hispanic male with diamond
By anon
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 2:03pm
Hispanic male with diamond earrings, clean cut, white tank top, grey shorts. Courtesy of your friendly area security. He was last seen running by Tremont. We have been stepping up patrols due to these vermins fervent love of robbing clueless students
They need undercover cops, or
By emily
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 5:35pm
They need undercover cops, or cops posing as students in Ruggles, things get pretty shady over there.
Police response
By Michael
Sat, 09/06/2014 - 9:18am
Rest easy - the police were there, doing (or, more accurately, standing in formation and not actually doing) bag checks at Ruggles at 5 yesterday
It baffles me
By ChrisInEastie
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 2:30pm
how that station and the area around it can always be so sketchy considering its location. Between NU police, MBTA police, and BPD, why are there not more patrols? Clearly there is a need.
According to the MBTA, http://www.mbta.com/transitpolice/crimestats, there have been 23 crimes at Ruggles this year between 1/1 and 7/31, including 12 assaults. Add these 2 and we're up to 25. There were 29 all of last year.
I went to grad school at Northeastern from 2011-2013, and had mostly night courses. I always opted to take "the long way" on the Green Line when I was leaving, because Ruggles at night, no thanks.
It is laughable.
By jrbgn
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 3:06pm
How have they not cracked down on / cleaned up Ruggles in all these years? I was in college 10 years ago and it was just as bad. "The sketchiest station with the cutest name. RUGGLES!"
Mark Belmore
By BH
Sun, 09/07/2014 - 1:53am
was murdered about a quarter-century ago for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh, and being the wrong color.
In contrast, I am finishing
By DTP
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 3:10pm
In contrast, I am finishing up my undergrad at northeastern, and lived on Columbus for a while. Even working late nights at Snell, walking home after midnight, I never once saw anything sketchy. Sure, crime happens there, but the station itself doesn't seem any worse than any other urban public place.
Neither me nor any of my friends were ever victims of anything occurring at Ruggles, and I have absolutely no qualms about walking through it at 1 am.
tl;dr Ruggles is not nearly as sketchy as you're making it out to be.
lower busway vs. the rest of
By anon
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 3:34pm
lower busway vs. the rest of the station = night & day
I frequented the lower busway
By DTP
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 4:33pm
I frequented the lower busway, as a regular rider of the 43, 47, and CT2. I also frequently used it as a shortcut over to Columbus, rather than walking all the way through the station concourse.
Still not very sketchy.
Well the fact is
By ChrisInEastie
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 4:47pm
crime at the station is rapidly outpacing last year's rates, while just about every other station on the Orange Line is trending downward. Forrest Hills is the only other one with as high of a mixed crime rate, as Oak Grove is skewed by a high number of bike thefts.
I did say the area around there as well, not just the station. I had a GF that lived on Columbus for a while, and I was never a fan.
tl;dr: Data.
I don't dispute your data.
By DTP
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 5:07pm
I don't dispute your data. Just the conclusions you draw from it. The station itself and the immediate surrounding area are perfectly fine, and mostly consists of students. It doesn't start to get questionable until past Tremont.
I lived on Columbus and thought it was very nice and convenient. Never had any issues, and it was very handy to have Ruggles right there, plus walking home from downtown at night was an easy straight shot down Columbus.
I would consider the crime rate there as somewhat random, and somewhat an artifact of the sheer number of people who go through there, between buses, the orange line, the commuter rail, and all the pedestrian traffic.
"The station itself and the
By BostonSean
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:27pm
"The station itself and the immediate surrounding area are perfectly fine"
That is not even true. The Alice Heyward Taylor housing project right across the street is home for many crack dealers, prostitutes, gang bangers and addicts that would likely account for a fair number of robberies to feed a habit. I know firsthand because I had a few friends that lived there that I would visit. Have to step over a junkie or 2 in the stairwell, dodge a pusher, and try not to step in piss puddles. There have been multiple shootings and stabbings there just this year, 2 incident of gunplay on Parker St right around the corner in the last few weeks, and on and on. I lived in that area also and saw tons of shady things in and around Ruggles station including a number of melee's between thugs right there on the platform, drug deals taking place, etc. It's a running joke really how much criminal activity takes place in those projects and the T station while they are directly behind the BPD headquarters. I'd see it all because I actually enjoy shady neighborhoods at night when things are poppin. There's prb something seriously wrong with me, but that's how it is :P
Wasn't the housing project gentrified recently?
By Ron Newman
Sun, 09/07/2014 - 12:51am
I recall the project, which used to be called 'Mission Main', being rebuilt as a mixed-income, partially market-rate and partially subsidized development.
Ruggles is the jewel of the Orange Line
By anon
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 6:50pm
Compared to Jackson sq, Forest Hills, Back Bay, Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, but statistically Assembly square station is the safest.
"statistically Assembly Square station is the safest"
By ChrisInEastie
Sat, 09/06/2014 - 12:43am
Unless you can't swim.
...too soon?
What will replace A Nubian Notion?
By Ron Newman
Sat, 09/06/2014 - 12:26am
Having a vacant storefront, instead of an active and busy convenience store, doesn't help establish a feeling of safety. Has the T chosen a new tenant, preferably one that will keep long hours?
As someone who went to school in that general area
By mplo
Sat, 09/06/2014 - 12:46pm
As somebody who went to school in that general area during the early to late 1970's (i. e. one year at Northeastern University, and for four years at Museum of Fine Arts School), I can attest to the fact that the Ruggles Street area/station, not to mention the entire area, was never a safe place to be after dark. Plenty of people I knew were raped and/or mugged and injured, some quite seriously.
Having said all of the above, the Ruggles Station, imho, is still a place to avoid at night.
So based on your experience
By DTP
Sun, 09/07/2014 - 7:30pm
So based on your experience there in the 70s, it must be sketchy.
Tell us more about how Boston is exactly the same today as it was 35 years ago.
Ruggles Station opened in 1987
By Ron Newman
Sun, 09/07/2014 - 10:53pm
It wasn't there during the period you describe, at all.
My bad! I forgot that the Ruggles Street station wasn't there
By mplo
Mon, 09/08/2014 - 11:11am
My bad! I forgot that the Ruggles Street station wasn't there during the 1970's, but it still wasn't a good area to be in after dark, by oneself.
Add comment