Students beaten in San Fran for singing National Anthem...

[insein]

So much tolerance coming from San Fran right?

New Year's nightmare for visiting Yale singers
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

How's this for an only-in-San Francisco story:

Members of the Baker's Dozen, the renowned, all-male a cappella singing group from Yale, are pummeled outside a New Year's Eve party after singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The attackers allegedly include graduates from Sacred Heart Cathedral, one of the city's oldest and best-known private schools.

The attack happens outside the home of two prominent San Francisco police officers -- former mayoral bodyguard Reno Rapagnani, now retired, and his wife, Leanna Dawydiak -- who were both accused and later cleared of leaking internal SFPD personnel documents during the Fajitagate debacle.

As if that weren't enough, the dean of Yale College has weighed in, as has one of the victim's fathers, Sharyar Aziz -- a prominent New York banker whose son's jaw was busted in two places. He has not only called the mayor's office and police chief -- he's also retained the law firm Gonzalez (as in former mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez) and Leigh to keep the heat on the cops and make sure "the individuals behind this heinous assault (are) apprehended."

As Rapagnani tells it, his 19-year-old daughter was hosting a New Year's Eve party at the family's Richmond District home for the Baker's Dozen, who were in town as part of a West Coast tour.

The 16 singers showed up late to the party wearing preppy sport jackets and ties, and launched into "The Star-Spangled Banner."

A couple of uninvited guests started mocking them, and allegedly the words "faggot" and "homo" were tossed -- and so were a couple of punches.

The loud noise drew relatives from next door, who promptly ordered the house cleared.

The Yale kids, most of whom were staying with a family a block away, began heading home.

But witnesses said one of the uninvited guests -- who happens to be the son of a prominent Pacific Heights family -- pulled out his cell phone and said, "I'm 20 deep. My boys are coming."

According to Rapagnani and others, the Yale kids barely made it around the corner when they were intercepted by a van full of young men.

"They were surrounded, then tripped -- and when they were on the ground, they were kicked," Rapagnani said.

According to police reports, the cops arrived about 12:40 a.m. to find 20 people fighting in the street.

To the police, who were out in force to keep a lid on New Year's, it looked like just another drunken brawl.

But according to Rapagnani, "This was not a fight -- it was an attack."

Four of the alleged assailants were detained at the scene, then released after the cops took their names.

Meanwhile, Sharyar Aziz Jr. was taken by paramedics to San Francisco General Hospital, and later had to undergo reconstructive surgery in New York for a broken jaw that will remain wired shut for eight weeks.

Another unidentified Yale student sought treatment for a concussion, and a third for a swollen ankle and other abrasions.

Yale Dean Peter Salovey told the school paper that he was "shocked and appalled" by the incident, which has yet to yield an arrest.

Police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens said the investigation was continuing and that more people still needed to be interviewed.

Now authorities want the Yale students -- who have left San Francisco and will soon be back in school -- to return to the city to identify their attackers.

But dad Aziz said arranging their return won't be easy.

"The kids are scared s -- less of coming back to San Francisco,'' he said. "I'm just really frustrated.''

Personally, the yale kids are a bunch of Pussies. They couldnt beat up a bunch of SF hecklers? But seriously, i figured San Francisco would be the most tolerant land on Earth with the amount of hippies living there. What could have set them off? Surely it couldnt have been singing the National Anthem? I mean Yale students should have fit right in with a bunch of left coast liberals.

 

[jillian]

So much tolerance coming from San Fran right?



Personally, the yale kids are a bunch of Pussies. They couldnt beat up a bunch of SF hecklers? But seriously, i figured San Francisco would be the most tolerant land on Earth with the amount of hippies living there. What could have set them off? Surely it couldnt have been singing the National Anthem? I mean Yale students should have fit right in with a bunch of left coast liberals.

You're missing it, aren't you? It was the "good Catholic school boys" who beat the stuffing out of a bunch of "gays".

I doubt the good men of Sacred Heart Cathedral are "San Francisco liberals".

 

[90K]

Again another media spin liberal, gay whatever it was wrong in the first place on all sides. I wonder who the lawyer be who takes this case, because you know ther is gonna be one.

 

[jillian]

Again another media spin liberal, gay whatever it was wrong in the first place on all sides. I wonder who the lawyer be who takes this case, because you know ther is gonna be one.

Media spin? You think good Catholic school boys are gonna beat up a group of singers for performing the National Anthem?

 

[wiggles]

another SF Chronicle article about it . . .

It's not the good righties vs the bad lefties or the benevolent liberals against the evil conservatives
It's just a bunch of drunk boys being idiots on New Years Eve. Nothing new.


Renowned Yale singing group attacked in San Francisco

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

(01-10) 11:51 PST San Francisco (AP) --

Members of an all-male singing group from Yale University were attacked and beaten outside a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco, and the parents of a singer who suffered a broken jaw said they are outraged no arrests have been made.

The Baker's Dozen, an a cappella group that formed at Yale in 1947 and has performed for the president, were on a West Coast winter tour when they were invited to a party in their honor, said Reno Rapagnani, a retired San Francisco police officer whose daughter hosted the event.

The trouble started at midnight after the 16 student singers, wearing sports jackets and ties, sang "The Star Spangled Banner," witnesses said. A couple of other partygoers started mocking the singers as preppies and taunting them with anti-gay epithets.

"'You're not welcome here,'" Sharyar Aziz Jr., the 18-year-old Baker's Dozen member who had his jaw broken, recalled being told. "He called a few members of the group, whether it was fag or homo, very, I would say, juvenile taunting."

The disturbance prompted Rapagnani to shut down the party, and as the singers headed back to a nearby home where they were staying, when another group of young men got out of a van and jumped them, according to Rapagnani.

"They were surrounded, then tripped — and when they were on the ground, they were kicked," Rapagnani said.

Besides Sharyar Aziz Jr., who required reconstructive surgery on his jaw, two other Yale students needed medical treatment following the fight, one for a concussion and the other for cuts and a swollen ankle.

Police arrived at 12:40 a.m. and found about 20 people fighting in the street, according to a police report. A San Francisco police spokesman said an investigation is ongoing.

But people involved in the incident said they are upset that officers interviewed four of the alleged assailants at the scene and let them go after taking their names.

"Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems as a citizen in San Francisco that something should be done a little more than has been," said Leanna Dawydiak, a San Francisco police officer who is married to Rapagnani.

The Aziz family has retained a local law firm.

 

[trobinett]

Media spin? You think good Catholic school boys are gonna beat up a group of singers for performing the National Anthem?

Hey guys, I think jillian may have "nailed" this one.

I was thinking the very same thing when I started to read the article.

I lived in the Bay Area for twenty plus years.

However, IF they turn this in to a "gay bashing" affair, Katie bar the door!

Cause San Francisco is nothing else, if NOT a gay friendly environment.

We'll just have to see how sharp the attorney's are for the "victims", sounds like the parents are well off, so I'm sure they'll retain some good ones.

I hope they nail the shitheads, that did this to the wall.

 

[wiggles]

However, IF they turn this in to a "gay bashing" affair, Katie bar the door!

Cause San Francisco is nothing else, if NOT a gay friendly environment.

Lunkheads commute to SF for holidays and events and get faced and start gay-bashing all the time. Just ask the SFPD.
This doesn't look like a gay bashing thing as far as I've read though.

 

[Kagom]

Don't look like they were beaten for singing the national anthem.

 

[trobinett]

Don't look like they were beaten for singing the national anthem.

I'd venture that your right.

 

[90K]

Media spin? You think good Catholic school boys are gonna beat up a group of singers for performing the National Anthem?

Hold on a minute this ain't about religion but about boys being boys. You are old enough to undersatand this now come on. It was a media spin to make it out as something it wasn't. Yes they sung the Nation Anthem but what if sometime in the night before this song these kids kind of had words? The after the song all hell breaks loose. Is that possible? Yes Pacific Heights is a ritzy arear but look at the west side story any difference? That is the problem these days it is religion first then social and economic scale then race and after that it is mooshed up and nobody really remembers what really happened. That was my point on this subject and nothing more. And if anyone knows about here say I can bet you'd know.
So let me see the buzz words--->National Anthem and Catholic school boys and Gay Bashing heavy stuff to report about and guess who is the victims are in the story.......?

 

[jillian]

Hold on a minute this ain't about religion but about boys being boys. You are old enough to undersatand this now come on.

These weren't "boys". They were young men. And since when is it boys being boys to beat up on guys they think are gay? Not behavior that's acceptable in any culture I would want to be a part of.

It was a media spin to make it out as something it wasn't.

Near as I can tell, they were only stating facts. If you don't like the facts, does that mean it's "spin"?

Yes they sung the Nation Anthem but what if sometime in the night before this song these kids kind of had words? The after the song all hell breaks loose. Is that possible? Yes Pacific Heights is a ritzy arear but look at the west side story any difference? That is the problem these days it is religion first then social and economic scale then race and after that it is mooshed up and nobody really remembers what really happened. That was my point on this subject and nothing more. And if anyone knows about here say I can bet you'd know.

Fair enough about the point you made. But I'm gonna stand by what seems to me to be what occurred. There was no indication there were "words". And this singing group has performed in enough places where I figure they know how to comport themselves.... even in the face of heckling from a bunch of jerks with raging testosterone.

 

[90K]

These weren't "boys". They were young men. And since when is it boys being boys to beat up on guys they think are gay? Not behavior that's acceptable in any culture I would want to be a part of.

Well my point to you was not that you'd be part of; but that these things happen, I agree all parties should of acted differently and they didn't. So this story will be either cleared up or blurred in the future because this looks like a law suit in the making.

 

[trobinett]

Well my point to you was not that you'd be part of; but that these things happen, I agree all parties should of acted differently and they didn't. So this story will be either cleared up or blurred in the future because this looks like a law suit in the making.

Multiple law suits, and totally justified.

 

[glockmail]

You're missing it, aren't you? It was the "good Catholic school boys" who beat the stuffing out of a bunch of "gays".

I doubt the good men of Sacred Heart Cathedral are "San Francisco liberals".

More Catholic bashing, Jilly?

 

[wiggles]

Well my point to you was not that you'd be part of; but that these things happen, I agree all parties should of acted differently and they didn't. So this story will be either cleared up or blurred in the future because this looks like a law suit in the making.

How should the guys who got beat up have acted differently? Far as I can tell, they didn't do anything wrong.
I do agree with you however that politics probably didn't have anything to do with this. I'm not even sure this had anything to do with gay-bashing. Looks to me like just some drunk assholes started picking on some Ivy League choirboys and - as is often the case with large groups of drunk assholes - spun way out of control.

btw, I've got to tell you that "boys will be boys" saying is a bit unsettling. I've only ever heard it used to excuse inexcusable behavior.

 

[glockmail]

..... Looks to me like just some drunk assholes started picking on some Ivy League choirboys and - as is often the case with large groups of drunk assholes - spun way out of control.

.... .

The trouble started at midnight after the 16 student singers, wearing sports jackets and ties, sang "The Star Spangled Banner," witnesses said. A couple of other partygoers started mocking the singers as preppies and taunting them with anti-gay epithets.

It looks to me that the locals resented hearing the National Anthem, and the locals were the ones who were anti-gay.

Let's call this for what it is: a hate crime by citizens of San Fran Sicko who despise patriotism, and associate anyone who can sing well with homosexuality. As such the San-Fran police and the DA should take these "boys" to task.

But somehow I doubt it.

 

[wiggles]

ROFL!

wingnut

 

[glockmail]

Do you always drop to the floor and roll around when faced with reality?

 

[Kagom]

It looks to me that the locals resented hearing the National Anthem, and the locals were the ones who were anti-gay.

Let's call this for what it is: a hate crime by citizens of San Fran Sicko who despise patriotism, and associate anyone who can sing well with homosexuality. As such the San-Fran police and the DA should take these "boys" to task.

But somehow I doubt it.

Just because the slurs and crap started at the Star Spangled Banner does not directly prove that it had to do with the song itself.

 

[wiggles]

Do you always drop to the floor and roll around when faced with reality?

Of course. The exclusively-liberal-anti-gay-anti-patriot brigade strikes again!