A Davenport sophomore was assaulted on Whalley Avenue in front of Shaw’s supermarket at approximately 5 p.m. last Thursday, Yale officials said last Saturday .
David Lyons ’08 said he was walking toward Shaw’s and was at the intersection of Whalley and Hudson Street when two teenagers, who appeared to be about 12 and 14 years old, walked up behind him and began striking him on the head. Later in the weekend, the masters of Davenport and Pierson colleges sent students e-mails informing them of the Thursday assault, though neither mentioned Lyons by name.
Lyons said neither of the aggressors attempted to rob him, but he needed several stitches to mend minor lacerations.
“I turned around and asked them what they were doing, and started walking away quickly, but they followed and started punching me again,” Lyons said.
Lyons said a student from Southern Connecticut State University who was driving down Whalley at the time of the assault exited his car and chased the attacker away before driving Lyons back to Davenport. Once on campus, Lyons said he immediately called the New Haven Police Department, who sent an officer to interview him.
In their e-mails, Pierson Master Harvey Goldblatt and Davenport Master Richard Schottenfeld urged students to be especially vigilant and aware of their surroundings and not to walk alone, especially during Halloween festivities this weekend tonight.
“This is something that should greatly disturb us and give all of us pause,” Goldblatt wrote. “It should force us to alter the current ‘culture of movement’ that has governed life around here for the past few years.”
Some Davenport students expressed concern that they did not receive notice of the incident before Schottenfeld’s e-mail, which was sent at approximately 9:15 on Sunday night.
Sabrina Howell ’08 said that while she appreciated receiving an e-mail from Schottenfeld, she thinks that the entire Yale community should have been notified of the incident.
“I think it’s important to be notified of things like this,” she said. “We all walk to Shaw’s during daylight hours.”
Lyons, a transfer student from the University of California at Berkeley, said Schottenfeld and Davenport Dean Craig Harwood were helpful and concerned in their meeting with him Saturday. Schottenfeld called the Yale Police Department after speaking with him to inform them of the situation.
The YPD and NHPD were unavailable for comment Sunday night.