Police hope that two arrests made over the weekend will end a three month-long string of vending machine thefts, crimes that had become a high priority for officers at Boston-area schools.

In an at times chaotic scene early Saturday morning, in which one police cruiser was heavily damaged, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) took John McCauley, 36, of Manchester, N.H. and Keith Morley, 29, of Dorchester into custody on several felony charges.

Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, a security guard at the law school reported that two men, one wearing a ski mask, were using a crowbar to break into the vending machines in the tunnels under the International Legal Studies (ILS) department. By the time the guard spotted them, police found that three machines had already been burglarized.

Because of Head of the Charles weekend, HUPD had a substantially larger-than-average shift on duty, and the call received a full-scale response.

"It was a hot call," Officer Brian Lakin said.

Sergeant Robert Kotowski and Officer Jack O'Kane spotted the suspects quickly.

"We got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the damaged machines, and the suspects fled," Kotowski said.

Kotowski and O'Kane gave chase, radioing their location to units outside. The chase passed under ILS, through the tunnels to Austin Hall and outside where HUPD officers were waiting.