Three unknown male suspects assaulted Georgetown graduate student Mihail Mamedov near his home behind the Medical Center the night of Tuesday, Sept. 6.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department incident report, Mamedov was walking home at about 11:30 p.m. when three men attacked him from behind. After he refused two demands to give up his money, one of the suspects punched him in the right eye from the rear and knocked him to the ground, after which the suspects scattered. Mamedov has worn an eye-patch on his right eye for many years.
Friend and colleague Olga Meerson, a professor in the Russian department, said Mamedov was able to return home after the attack. According to the police report, Mamedov notified the authorities of the incident himself.
“He didn’t go to the hospital immediately,” Meerson said.
He soon began to feel ill, however, and called the Georgetown University Hospital, Meerson said. By the time the ambulance arrived, she said, Mamedov was unconscious.
Officer Lisa Myers noted on the MPD report that Mamedov had sustained only minor injuries: a cut over his right eye and swelling of his forehead.
Yet after being admitted to the hospital, Mamedov was placed in the neurological wing of the intensive care unit, where Meerson visited him. He has since been moved from the neurological wing and is currently housed in the main part of the ICU.
The hospital declined to provide information about Mamedov.
Mamedov’s sister and mother have been a nearly constant presence at his bedside for the last week. His sister was too upset to answer questions and his mother, who speaks only Russian, sat quietly at the bedside, wringing her hands.
Sarah Callahan (GRD ‘06), a friend of Mamedov and a graduate student in Russian History, has visited him in the hospital. She reported that although he cannot speak, he does respond to touch and sound.
“He’s not in a coma. He’s not brain-dead,” Callahan said.
A Russian Orthodox service was held in his honor in Copley Crypt this past Tuesday, though it received little publicity. As of printing, the University had not sent out a broadcast e-mail about the incident.
Callahan was confused by the University’s response.
“I don’t understand why DPS hasn’t sent out an email about his attack, or why the student population didn’t receive word of the service being held for him,” Callahan said.
Mamedov was working on his Ph.D. dissertation in the History Department. He was also teaching a class, Topics in Russian History: The Caucasus, 1801-2004, which has been cancelled for the semester.
