Man assaulted, woman robbed over weekend in Palo Alto

PALO ALTO – A man was assaulted and a woman was robbed in separate incidents over the weekend in Palo Alto, police said.

The assault was reported just after 3:45 p.m. Saturday at the University Avenue Caltrain station. The victim, a man in his 50s, was standing on the platform when he got into a verbal altercation with another man he did not know, according to the Palo Alto Police Department.

The suspect punched the victim in the face and the pair fell to the ground, police said in a statement, adding that a second female suspect hit the victim in the head several times with an aluminum thermos.

The victim’s cellphone was stolen during the fight, and he told police he believed the male suspect smashed it on the ground. Officers found it nearby with a cracked screen and returned it to him.

The suspects were gone by the time officers arrived at the scene. The victim was treated at the scene for multiple cuts to his head and declined further medical care.

Around 9:10 p.m. Sunday, an employee at the Sheraton Hotel at 625 El Camino Real reported that her cellphone had been stolen, police said in a second statement.

The victim, a woman in her 40s, told police she had been walking southbound on El Camino Real near University Avenue, near the train station, when a man approached her and asked to use her cellphone.

Police said the victim declined, at which point the suspect “threatened to beat her to death.” The victim intentionally dropped her cellphone and ran to the hotel for help.

Officers did not find the cellphone and “presume the suspect picked it up,” police said.

Investigations are underway into both cases and detectives are exploring if they are connected. The male suspect in both cases had dreadlocks, according to police.