Witness Account Of Attack On Yale Choir

Jan. 17 - KGO (KGO) -- The ABC7 News I-Team has learned that San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has decided not to take action at this point in the Yale choir assault case. Also today, the I-Team has an exclusive interview with a young woman who has personal knowledge of what happened.

It looks like Harris wants inspectors to do more work on this case. Today, we spoke with one young woman police have not interviewed, but should.

Hunter Fairman, Hosted Baker's Dozen Party: "I actually opened the door for Rich Aicardi and let him in the house."

Twenty-year-old Hunter Fairman hosted the New Year's Eve party in honor of Yale's a capella group The Baker's Dozen. They were in San Francisco as part of their winter concert tour. Fairman says the trouble started when 19-year-old Richard Aicardi began making fun of The Baker's Dozen, especially when they sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at midnight.

Hunter Fairman: "Rich was behind me and he said that these were a bunch of, that this is the gayest s--t he'd ever heard and what a bunch of fags."

Then, Fairman says Aicardi and several of his friends tried to get The Baker's Dozen to fight, but the young men from Yale refused.

Hunter Fairman: "Not just one Yale kid said that, like, many of them said, 'We don't want to fight, we don't want to fight. We're not here to do that. We're just here to have a good time. This is ridiculous.'"

Witnesses say that Rich Aicardi took out his cell phone and called his brother, Michael, to bring reinforcements and take on The Baker's Dozen.

Reno Rapagnani, Party At His Home: "He said, 'I'm 20-deep. My boys are coming.'"

Police say their van was captured on the surveillance camera at a nearby church. Members of The Baker's Dozen say they left the party one by one and were met by Aicardi, his brothers and friends -- up to eight assailants on a single person. Several of the singers came away with injuries -- a jaw broken in two places, a serious concussion, a severely sprained ankle and black eyes.

The Aicardi brothers' attorney says it was "mutual combat," but Hunter Fairman says the Yale students didn't fight back, didn't even throw a punch.

Hunter Fairman: "The only things was they were trying to help each other, trying to help each other get out of the situation, trying to stop it, there was, the fact that they said that it's mutual combat is ridiculous."

Marc Fairman, Witness To Incident: "I look outside the window, paddy wagon is there, squad car is there."

Fariman's father today contradicts claims by Police Chief Heather Fong that none of The Baker's Dozen were there to identify the four young men detained by officers that night.

Heather Fong, SFPD Chief (Jan. 10, 2007): "They then attempted to talk to individuals who had additional information who could make an identification as to what each individual may have done, to look at what the consequences of any actions were and there were no individuals there who could provide that information."

Marc Fairman says through his window near the scene, he saw the young men being detained -- Michael Aicardi, James Aicardi, Marino Peradotto and Brian Dwyer. Then, a member of The Baker's Dozen comes up to officers, shakes hands and walks away.

Marc Fairman: "It occurred to me that maybe the police just didn't want him around because you would have expected him to be there for some time. That didn't happen."

Fairman says police talked to the four young men for 45 minutes and then let them go.

Now back at school in Oregon, Fairman's daughter is upset what the attack -- and now the handling of the case -- is doing to the image of her hometown.

Hunter Fairman: "It's embarrassing that our city treated them in such a way because we live in such a great city and it's so unfortunate that this had to happen to them."

Late today, we caught up with Mayor Gavin Newsom for his reaction to the D.A.'s decision to send the case back to the police.

Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor: "I'm not going to comment any more about the investigation. The reason she took her action, she felt it was appropriate to take the action of not doing anything at this point in the investigation."

Late today, we caught up with District Attorney Kamala Harris about why she's asking the police to do more work on the case.

Kamala Harris, San Francisco District Attorney: "There are specific details that we've requested, I cannot discuss those details. But very specific items that might require follow-up or something of that nature. That's normal. That's normally what happens in any case."

Hunter Fairman also tells us the family who owned the home where the party took place did not supply any alcohol -- that the young people brought it themselves and Rich Aicardi brought a case of beer. By the way, the young people at the party were mostly college age -- some of them 21 or older.

<u>I-TEAM BLOG:</u> Our investigation into the attack on The Baker's Dozen has sparked outrage in San Francisco and across the country. For details on that and to read viewer comments on our report, read our I-Team Blog.

INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR NEWSOM: Watch our complete and unedited interview with Mayor Gavin Newsom here. Also, Dan Noyes blogs about his interview with the mayor. Read the blog here.

MORE ON THIS STORY:

>> Read original report: Yale Choir Assaulted; No Arrests By SFPD (1/8)
>> Read follow up: SFPD Under Fire Over Yale Choir Assault (1/10)
>> Read follow up: Newsom Responds To Choir Assault Case (1/11)
>> Read follow up: 11 Days Later, SFPD Interviews Yale Choir (1/12)
>> Read follow up: Police Present Choir Assault Case To D.A. (1/16)

Have a tip on this or another investigation? E-mail the ABC7 I-Team or call 1-888-40-I-TEAM.

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