SAN FRANCISCO — It began with an a cappella version of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" performed by a crew of Ivy League choirboys in town on a West Coast tour.
What it has triggered is another San Francisco-style political dust-up -- complete with the usual personal mudslinging, calling into question the actions of both the chief of police and the mayor.
After performing at a New Year's Eve party held by the daughter of two longtime city police officers, members of the Baker's Dozen singing group from Yale University were allegedly attacked outside by a group of San Francisco prep-school graduates.
Several Yale students were injured, one suffering a broken jaw and another a concussion. But what might have gone down as a schoolboy scuffle -- maybe over women, maybe over beer -- soon blew up into a bicoastal fracas fueled by local politics.
First, one victim's father, an influential New York investment banker, criticized police for the slow pace of the investigation and hired a politically connected local law firm to pressure officials into action.
Yale President Richard Levin called the incident "appalling," telling the student paper, the Yale Daily News, that "my only hope is that there is a thorough investigation."
Then came the usual cacophony of competing San Francisco voices.
Police Chief Heather Fong, often criticized as ineffectual, drew barbs from victims' families when she said the investigation was slowed because the victims couldn't identify their attackers.
"I found her statement shocking," Sharyar Aziz, the New York banker whose son suffered a broken jaw, said Tuesday. "I was in a state of disbelief [that] the chief of police of a major city would make public comments I knew in fact were untrue."
Aziz said his son and other victims told him that several suspects had been detained the night of the party but released. He added that 19 members of the group remained in San Francisco for three days after the incident but were never even contacted by police.
"I called the Police Department the day after the attack, and they didn't even have a case registered," Aziz said. "I just found that highly unusual."
Police say that the younger Aziz was not at the scene when they arrived and that they only later received a call about his injuries.
