UMass student badly hurt in assault

AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) - Amherst police have arrested a man who they say assaulted and seriously injured a UMass student early Friday morning.

Amherst Police Lieutenant Ronald Young notified 22News that James Anthony Harris, 19, of Amherst was arrested following the incident on North Pleasant Street, near the intersection of Kellogg Avenue.

According to Young, just after midnight, Harris and the 21 year-old UMass student “exchanged words” on the street, and Harris struck the student in the face, causing him to fall and hit his head on the sidewalk. Harris ran away, but police later found him hiding in a Kellogg Avenue apartment, Young says.

When officers arrived on North Pleasant Street, Young says the victim was unresponsive and suffering from head trauma. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he is in serious but stable condition. Young says that the victim is expected to survive.

Harris, who is not a student at UMass, is charged with assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. He was held at the Hampshire County House of Corrections in Northampton in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown.