Justice by the bay

Jan. 8 - KGO - Members of a renowned choral group from Yale University were attacked outside a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco, sending several of them to the hospital. Now the police department is coming under fire for its handling of the case.

This does not look good for the city. Yale sends its popular singing group, The Baker's Dozen, on a holiday concert tour. And San Francisco sends the young men away bloody, bruised, and several of them seriously injured.

Laura Aziz sent her son, Sharyar, off on a concert tour with one of Yale University's singing groups -- he came to San Francisco over New Year's.

This is how the 18-year-old returned to New York last week.

Sharyar Aziz, Yale University Student: "Besides any bruising or scrapes to the face, the main injury that I suffered was I broke my jaw in two places."

Laura Aziz, Sharyar's Mother: "It was shocking. It didn't make any sense. It still doesn't make any sense."

The Baker's Dozen are a 58-year tradition at Yale. They've put out two dozen albums and toured the country, with appearances at the White House and Los Angeles Lakers games. When their winter tour brought them to San Francisco, retired police officer and department lawyer, Reno Rapagnani, arranged a New Year's Eve party at his home in the group's honor.

Reno Rapagnani, Retired SFPD Lawyer: "I had given strict orders to my daughter that if anything got out of hand that the party would be over."

The trouble started at midnight after The Baker's Dozen sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Witnesses say a few local young men didn't appreciate the attention the Yale students were getting, made fun of their conservative dress and began taunting them and making threats.

[Singing the Star Spangled Banner in San Francisco is like singing Hava Nagila at a Nuremberg rally - LC]

Leanna Dawydiak, Hosted Party: "They had something here special that these other fellas obviously didn't have and that irritated them."

Witnesses say 19-year-old Richard Aicardi was the most aggressive.

Sharyar Aziz: "'You're not welcome here,' he called a few members of the group, whether it was fag or homo, very, I would say, juvenile taunting."

[I would think that in San Francisco homophobic "hate speech" would be punished by summary execution - LC]

Aicardi took out his cell phone and called in reinforcements.

Reno Rapagnani: "He said, 'I'm 20 deep, my boys are coming.'"

[At this point I have to wonder why the "retired SFPD lawyer" didn't take out his cell phone and call reinforcements - LC]

One of the vehicles that brought the attackers was captured by surveillance camera at a church across the street. As The Baker's Dozen left the house, they were ambushed -- five, six, seven assailants attacking each member.

[In a less enlightened place that would be considered evidence - LC]

Their injuries ranged from scrapes, black eyes, a badly sprained ankle to concussions.

The most seriously injured was Sharyar Aziz. He was rushed back to New York for reconstructive surgery -- his jaws wired shut for eight weeks. He'll forever have two titanium plates in his face. The varsity squash player will miss the season, now underway. He's trying to remain positive.

Sharyar Aziz: "I can't just look back at that incident and be depressed for the next two months. I have to learn to deal with what's been given to me."

[There was a time when a few Yale parents would have gotten together and sent a lawyer out to San Francisco who would have teamed with a local PI and spread some money around on the docks. Within a couple of weeks all the punks involved in the assault would have been beaten to the point of lengthy hospital stays and permanent disability/disfigurement. But today we are more "civilized" which means that if the punks are ever arrested and brought to trial before the meanest, nastiest "hanging judge" on the San Francisco bench that their wrists will be slapped so hard that they will sting for a full minute! - LC]

What especially concerns the Aziz family -- when police arrived, they detained four of the attackers who were identified by members of The Baker's Dozen, but officers did not make an arrest. And a full week later, they still haven't made an arrest.

Whitney Leigh, Gonzalez & Leigh Law Firm: "That doesn't seem to comport with traditional police practices and as a result, at least at this point, there's several violent youths or young men, actually, who are out on the street and shouldn't be."

Police investigators didn't even bother to photograph the injuries to The Baker's Dozen. The couple who held the party that night took pictures.

Leanna Dawydiak: "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."

[Leanna, what you are "missing" is that the punks are from politically connected families and the people they attacked were "dressed conservatively" and sang the national anthem. This means that the police know that the number of San Franciscans who will actually care what happened to them can be counted on your fingers. If fact if they do put these little animals on trial there is an excellent chance that there will be massive demonstrations and/or riots on their behalf. Perhaps you might want to take a look out the window one day and note the fact that you are living in SAN FRANCISCO - LC]

Police spokesman Neville Gittens defends the handling of the case.

["Police spokesman", at least in a large department like SFPD means roughly the same thing as "gunwriter" or "New York Times journalist", that is someone who is paid to lie. - LC]

Neville Gittens, SFPD Spokesman: "What you want to do is you want to have a complete, thorough investigation. So the officers responded, the fight was abated and now an investigation is ongoing."

[So if a bunch of rednecks with Klan tattoos were beating up patrons of a swanky gay nightclub the cops would break up the fight and just send everybody home with a promise to do a full investigation at some point in the future? - LC]

The couple who hosted the party wonder whether the authorities are moving slowly because of the family involved. Rich Aicardi and two of his brothers who were involved in the incident are the sons of prominent San Francisco pediatrician Eileen Aicardi.

[That and the fact that the Yale guys were singing the national anthem - LC]

The I-Team met with Eileen Aicardi and her sons last night. They invited us into their home in the shadow of Coit Tower, but later declined to be interviewed. Rich Aicardi did not want to have his picture taken.

[And of course you respect his right not to be photographed. After all it isn't like he did something really evil like date a member of the British royal family. - LC]


UPDATE:

It would seem that the police have been shamed into at least going through the motions of conducting an investigation, but they have some demands:

Now, 10 days later, investigators are demanding that the young men pay their way back to San Francisco to be interviewed. One investigator told a parent, "the kids are affluent, so they can afford it." The Baker's Dozen's attorney says it's ridiculous.

Note that they did not conduct interviews with the victims at the time of the attack, but are willing to do so now, provided that the victims will fly across the country at their own expense.

More than any other city in the United States San Francisco is ruled by the political left. Take a good look before you hit the polls in 2008.