A Shoreland resident was robbed last night while waiting for the bus in front of the dorm. Helena Stenberg, a second-year who lives on the seventh floor, was sitting alone at the bus stop at 9 p.m. with her bookbag at her feet when a man walked by, grabbed it, and began running. Stenberg immediately ran after him.

“I know you’re not supposed to run after him, but it’s instinctive. It’s my bag,” Stenberg said. “It’s the difference between what you know you have to do and what you actually do.”

The man, who had a getaway car waiting for him, turned around and punched Stenberg in the face as she was trying unsuccessfully to grab her bag from him. Despite this, she and another witness managed to get the license plate number as the car drove away.

Shoreland staff called 911, and the U of C Police drove Stenberg to the hospital, where she remained for almost five hours, receiving X-rays and five stitches under her swollen right eye.

“I’m just glad my nose isn’t broken. I thought it was at first because of all the swelling,” Stenberg said.

Stenberg described her attacker as a slim black man of average height wearing jeans. She had originally been headed to campus to meet a friend, and was carrying about $50 in cash, along with a credit card, identification cards, and school books in her bag.