Yale Singers Beaten In San Fran -- For Singing "Star Spangled Banner"

San Fransisco values -- Catch the Fever!

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.

Ah, tolerance.

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."

Hey kids, little tip. When your names come out -- and I hope they will -- I would suggest you always travel in your twenty-man fake-tough-guy team.

Because you know what? You're not the only ones with cell-phones or fists, pussies.

Gay Patriot... Thinks it was a gay-bashing attack, based, I guess, on the use of the words "homo" and "faggot."

Granted, there is no report of the thugs using the words "warmonger" or "Chimpy McHitlerburton."

Still, not clear as of yet if this was an anti-American hate crime or an anti-gay hate crime. As my esteemed lefty trolls prove on a daily basis, calling someone a homo is considered an acceptable proxy for a substantive argument against the War in Iraq.

You don't have to be the Amazing Kreskin to figure out that hate-crime charges will be filed in only one of those scenarios, however.

posted by Ace at 06:53 PM

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