Chase through Cathedral of Learning ends in arrest

A chase through the Cathedral Commons Room yesterday afternoon ended in the arrest of a woman… A chase through the Cathedral Commons Room yesterday afternoon ended in the arrest of a woman accused of robbery, burglary and assault, among other charges.

Pitt police Chief Tim Delaney said in an e-mail that his officers arrested a woman not affiliated with the University for robbery, burglary, simple assault, theft and receiving stolen property — a computer — yesterday afternoon. He declined to give the woman’s name because police were still processing her arrest last night.

Pitt sophomore Natalie Grauel said she was sitting in the Cathedral Commons Room facing the elevators between 3:30 and 3:40 p.m. yesterday when she heard people screaming behind her.

She turned around and saw two women and one man chasing a woman through the Commons Room.

Alex Swanson, who was also studying in the Commons Room, said she heard the three people chasing the woman scream, “Get security.”

Grauel said she watched the pursued woman run to the revolving doors on the Bigelow Boulevard side of the Cathedral. The woman ran in circles through the doors several times.

“I thought it was a prank. I thought it was straight-up just something funny going on,” Grauel said. “I was laughing because I didn’t know what to do.”

Grauel said the woman eventually exited the Cathedral, where multiple people said they saw officers arrest her.

Officers took the woman to the Fifth Avenue side of the Cathedral, where they handcuffed her and placed her in a police car.