By Brendan O'Reilly

The police responded to an attack on a resident student at his suite late Monday night.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Public Safety and Nassau County Police vehicles, as well as an ambulance lined the sidewalk in front of the Nassau/Suffolk residential complex.

A Nassau Hall resident student reported to Public Safety that after answering a knock on the door of his suite, an unidentified man struck him in the face and head with a weapon prior to fleeing out of a fire exit door.

Uniformed police officers took witness statements from the victim, a 19-year-old sophomore, and his suitemates. The victim's head injury was wrapped in gauze, after receiving first aid from a Public Safety officer. He received further medical attention after an ambulance arrived.

"I closed my door when I heard the scuffle," one suitemate told an officer. "I thought they were just messing around."

The hallway was blocked with police tape, leaving the suitemate unsure of where he would sleep that night.

"I feel this is my fault now," a resident safety representative who was on duty at the complex at the time of the incident, said. RSRs are responsible for making sure residents swipe into the building and others sign-in and turn in their IDs. The RSR admitted to not stopping everyone who attempted to enter the complex without presenting ID. "I'm supposed to but a lot of people don't really respect this position," she added.

Protocol also calls for RSRs to get the permission of the resident whom a non-resident guest wishes to visit, before allowing the guest entrance to the building.

The RSR was interviewed by a police officer, but said she did not have any useful information for the investigation.

"'Have I seen a six-foot two white male with a hat on?'" The RSR recalled being asked.

"Like everyone tonight."

Rochelle Manelis, the resident director, lives down the hall from were the incident occurred. She told a Public Safety officer, "I heard ruckus going on and I heard the fire exit door open."

"I looked at the fire exit door and I saw a kid in a blue jacket," she said. "He was kind of tall. I assumed he was wearing a red hat, I'm not positive."

Public Safety would not comment on the details of the incident. "We're in the middle of an investigation at this point," said Edward Bracht, director of the Department of Public Safety.

Nassau County police officer tapes off the hallway to the Nassau residence suite where the incident occurred.