oops, an interesting development in this case -- now the marines were pounding on the yalies for singing the national anthem? better tell rush and hannity, asap
"Yale Families Demand Action From Marines
Choir Group Assaulted In S.F.
By Dan Noyes
Feb. 12 - KGO - He was the victim of a New Year's attack in San Francisco, and now his family's being asked to pay. Their first official contact with the city was a bill for the ambulance. That bill, quite literally, added insult to injury. The parents of the Yale singing group, beaten up over New Year's, believe the D.A.'s office has all the evidence needed to file charges. And they're upset nothing has come of the case so far.
Paramedics rushed 18-year-old Sharyar Aziz to the hospital over New Year's after he was knocked to the ground, punched and kicked by several assailants. His jaw was broken in two places.
Aziz's mother is furious that no one's been arrested for attacking her son.
Sharyar came to San Francisco with Yale's a capella group, "The Baker's Dozen," on their winter concert tour, and they were guests of honor at a party in a Richmond District home.
Witnesses tell the I-Team several local college students started making fun of the group after they sang the National Anthem at midnight, and tried to get them to fight.
Hunter Fairman, Witness: "Not just one Yale kid said that, like, many of them said, 'Look, we don't want to fight, we don't want to fight, we're not here to do that, we're here to have a good time, this is ridiculous.'"
Witnesses say 19-year-old Richard Aicardi called his brother, Michael, to bring reinforcements. Their van was captured on surveillance camera.
As The Baker's Dozen left the party, they say they were jumped, as many as eight attackers on a single person. Police arrived and detained four young men identified by the Yale students, but let them go.
Now, the district attorney's office defends what the families see as the slow pace of the investigation.
Debbie Mesloh, S.F. District Attorney's Office: "It's a complicated matter and there's a lot of issues at hand and I think that we would tell people no one is served by a rushed investigation."
Lawyers representing the Yale students and their families have sent this letter, demanding action from the U.S. Marine Corps. One of the young men detained by police that night is Marino Peradotto, a member of an elite Marine anti-terrorism team. He's been trained in martial arts and close-quarters combat. He's a graduate of Sacred Heart High School and a close friend of the Aicardi brothers. He's yet to be interviewed by police investigators, and has now been shipped out to Japan.
Whitney Leigh, Gonzalez & Leigh Law Firm: "Justice delayed is justice denied, and it's hard to explain why given the evidence that we know that the district attorney and police have that arrests have not already been made."
Lawyers for the Yale students say Peradotto kicked singer Evan Gogel in the head -- one witness described it as like someone "kicking a soccer ball." Gogel suffered a serious concussion.
The letter to the Marines says Peradotto "took photographs of the wounds to the knuckles of his fellow attackers" and tried "to destroy that evidence in an effort to cover up his involvement and escape prosecution."
Laura Aziz told us from New York today, this is almost too painful to discuss.
Laura Aziz: "It's an incredible indication of the state of mind of the guys who were attacking, that they could cause that amount of damage to these boys and then laugh it off and want to take pictures of it as if they're bragging about what they accomplished."
A lawyer for the Aicardi brothers describes this as "mutual combat" and says alcohol played a role, that everyone, including the Yale students, was drinking that night. San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris has agreed to talk to us about this on camera tomorrow, and we'll have that story on ABC7 News at 6 p.m., as well as on our I-Team page." |
