BLOOMINGTON – A Bloomington man was arrested this morning after allegedly threatening others with a knife.
This morning at 11:15 a.m. officers with the Bloomington Police Department responded to the area of 4th and Dunn streets after multiple 911 callers reported two women running and yelling they were being chased by a man with a knife.
Callers stated that the man had last been seen near the Sample Gates at the intersection of Kirkwood and Indiana avenues. Once at that location, an officer was flagged down by a bystander who was able to point out the male suspect.
The man had run east through the Sample Gates and was walking on a path on the Indiana University campus. As the officer approached him, he had reached the south entryway to the Indiana Memorial Union and had climbed up on a ledge, where he sat down. The officer then gave the man commands to come down from the ledge and the man was taken into custody without incident at 11:23 a.m.
The man was identified as 22-year-old Karsten Harshbarger, of Indianapolis.
The arresting officer did locate a knife where Harshbarger had been sitting on the ledge as well as suspected drugs during a search incident to arrest.
Investigators located and interviewed the two 20-year-old women who had been seen running along 4th Street. The victim reported that she and her friend had been walking towards the IU campus when they noticed that an unknown man, later identified as Harshbarger, appeared to be following them near the intersection of 4th and Grant streets.
One of the females reported that as she turned around to see why they were being followed, Harshbarger was five to ten feet behind them. It was at that time that Harshbarger reportedly retrieved a folding knife from his pocket, exposed the blade, and pointed it toward the victims, which scared the woman and they both began to run away from the intersection towards campus yelling for help.
Karsten Harshbarger was transported to the Monroe County Jail on felony charges of intimidation while armed with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance.
