The driver led police on a 2.5-mile chase through Brookline, over the BU Bridge and to Memorial Drive, where he lost the tailing officer.

The officer caught back up and attempted to make an arrest as the driver abandoned his car in front of Winthrop House. According to police, a scuffle ensued, during which the man made repeated attempts to “grab the officer’s gun out of the holster.”

The alleged assailant then momentarily escaped but was tackled in front of the Malkin Athletic Center by a Harvard undergraduate and two other passersby.

The suspect, a 57-year old black man from Roslindale, Mass., was transported back to the Brookline police station, where he was charged on six counts, including armed assault with attempt to murder. Because he was acting erratically—according to police he made several more attempts to escape while being held in Brookline—the man was delivered to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

All of that was good enough for top story billing in The Crimson on the morning of October 26, 2000. The next day provided another bombshell, however: the suspect had a class year and—even more shockingly—a Harvard title.

The man arrested was Wilson J. Hunt Jr. ’65-’69, a 19-year employee at the Office of Career Services (OCS) and at the time the assistant director responsible for advising about minority student affairs, architecture, science and technology.

Director of OCS Bill Wright-Swadel called Hunt a “valued member of [the Harvard] community” and said the entire office was concerned about the situation. Hunt’s employment status was at the time undecided, Wright-Swadel said.

Today, Hunt is again an assistant director at OCS, responsible for minority student affairs, architecture, science and technology.

Harvard officials declined to comment on his case, and in a recent interview Hunt provided only scattered details about his arrest, the disposition of his case and how the incident affected his work at the University.

Between court papers and what Hunt was willing to say, however, a picture of what happened on and after that October afternoon can slowly be pieced together.

That picture is of a man with a long history of mental illness, but an equally long history of attempts to overcome it.

According to a motion for pre-trial probation filed by Hunt’s attorney in January 2001, Hunt was at the time suffering from and being treated for diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder and secondary post traumatic stress disorder. The first is characterized by severe mood swings and depression mixed with schizophrenia-like symptoms. The second refers to mental illness brought on by interactions with or the witnessing of others who experienced great trauma. It is often associated with the horrors of war or abuse.

In his Harvard 35th Reunion Report in 2000, Hunt told classmates how his bouts of depression had stymied repeated attempts to graduate from Harvard.

His first such attack occurred during senior year, and he left Harvard before graduation. A second attempt at finishing Harvard ended in similar circumstances.

Hunt reports that a third round of severe depression was triggered when his attempt to apply for readmission to the College was unsuccessful.