Police arrested two male teenagers after they harassed and physically assaulted two Whitman students yesterday, said officer Rebecca Innocenti, a Montgomery County police spokesperson. Neither Whitman student was seriously injured.

At approximately 2:39 p.m. yesterday, police responded to a call reporting a robbery from the 7600 block of Whittier Boulevard. Officers on the scene determined that three male teenagers had approached two male students, who were walking across the street from school.

A verbal argument began, and the suspects directed racial slurs at the students. As the students walked away, the suspects followed them down Whittier Boulevard, towards Wilson Lane.

Two of the suspects began grabbing and pushing the victims, and sometime during this altercation, one of the students dropped his backpack and attempted to run away.

The suspects picked up the backpack and boarded a Ride On bus. A Whitman security guard took out the suspects from the bus, principal Alan Goodwin wrote in a Whitnet email Friday morning. The police investigated the suspects pulled off the bus, one of whom ran into the neighborhood but was later caught, Goodwin wrote.

Police charged one of the suspects, a 19-year-old male, with two counts of second-degree assault on both victims, one count of theft under $100 for taking the backpack and one count of race harassment. Police also arrested a 16-year-old male and charged him with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of race harassment, one count of conspiracy to commit theft under $100 and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, believed to be for marijuana.

“I want to thank school security, neighbors and the police for the swift, helpful actions they took,” Goodwin said in the email. “Indeed, ‘it takes a village.’”