Indianapolis mayor robbed in Detroit

DETROIT, April 6 (UPI) -- Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was robbed while visiting Detroit, losing his cell phone in the incident, his communications director says.

Communications Director Robert Vane, who also serves as Ballard's deputy chief of staff, said the mayor's cell phone was taken when the Indianapolis official was accosted walking to his Detroit hotel Saturday, WRTV, Indianapolis, said Monday.

Ballard had been walking to his hotel after watching a NCAA Final Four basketball tournament game when he stopped to help a man apparently having a seizure, a police report said.

Vane said while the mayor was attempting to aid the man, at least two additional men approached and surrounded Ballard.

Police told WRTV the men, including the individual who had appeared to been having a seizure, fled the scene.

"Almost immediately, Mayor Ballard realized that his phone had been taken," Vane said in a news release.