NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Neither city police nor Rutgers University notified the public of an incident where a man was slashed in the chest with a knife in front of the Corner Tavern last Saturday morning.

The crime incident occurred on the corner of Somerset Street and Easton Avenue in New Brunswick at around 2:22 a.m., according to a report by NJ.com’s John Clayton.

Rutgers police did not issue one of their infamous crime alerts to notify the campus community of the incident, because it did not “pose an ongoing threat to the community,” according to RUPD spokesman Mike Rein.

The incident occurred at the intersection of Easton Avenue and Somerset Street, catty-corner from a Rutgers apartment building and across from The Vue, a new luxury apartment and condominium complex that includes the university bookstore.

According to Rein, the victim and the slasher knew each other so the crime did not qualify as a threat to the campus community under the federal Clery Act.  The victim, a 21-year-old man from South Plainfield, got into a verbal dispute with the suspect over a female friend of the victim.

“We only issue alerts for Clery crimes,” Rein told NewBrunswickToday.com.

New Brunswick’s police department, which actually handled the investigation, did not issue statements to the public regarding the crime.

Police are still searching for the slasher, who they said was involved in an argument with his victim over a woman, 

According to NBPD spokesman Captain J.T. Miller, the suspect is a Middle Eastern or Hispanic male with slicked-black hair, who the victim and a female friend have had interactions with in the past.  They are assisting police in his identification, Miller said.

The suspect slashed the victim in the upper west side of his chest, causing a minor laceration, before fleeing on foot down Easton Avenue.  According to Miller, the original altercation involved several individuals.

The case remains under investigation and anyone with additional information is asked to contact NBPD Detective Harry Lemmerling at (732)-745-5217.

Rutgers crime alerts were previously only available to those with campus email addresses, but recently the department has offerred them to the general public via the Nixle system.  To sign up for email or text message alerts, visit http://local.nixle.com/rutgers-police-department/.