Detectives are trying to track down a group of teens they believe attacked three Yale-New Haven Hospital internal medicine residents in Wooster Square.
Two separate attacks occurred there shortly after midnight on Oct. 27.
The first occurred on Chapel Street near Academy Street. Two 31-year-old internists serving in a Yale-New Haven residency training program were walking from a party when 20 teens set on them.
Five of the teens were on bikes, the rest on foot, according to Lt. Jeff Hoffman. He said the teens pushed one of the internists, a man, to the ground, then an attacker in a ski mask repeatedly kicked and punched him. The upper part of one of his ears was sliced off in the attack; the victim wasn’t sure how that happened.
He was taken to the hospital, where his ear was sewn back together.
The group didn’t steal anything from him.
One of the teens grabbed the other internist, a woman, punched her in the face, then made off with her wallet, Kate Spade purse, and Samsung droid cell phone, according to Lt. Hoffman. She did not suffer serious physical injuries, Hoffman said.
Moments later five to six teens attacked a 32-year-old internist from the same Yale-New Haven program on Chapel near Olive. The teens punched him in the face, then took off running, Hoffman said. Paramedics treated him at the scene for injuries to his mouth.
Detectives believe members of the same group of teens committed both acts, according to Sgt. Al Vazquez, head of the police department’s major crimes unit. He said the three internists had attended the same party.
Police haven’t been able to identify any members of the group yet but are actively following leads, according to Vazquez.
“Apple Pickers” Arrested
Meanwhile, police have made arrests in three separate instances of “Apple-picking” — the theft of people’s iPhones or other cell phones. Such thefts account for an estimated 30 percent of New Haven’s street robberies these days.
The three incidents occurred last week and took place in the Wooster Square/downtown areas, according to Lt. Rebecca Sweeney, top cop in the district. She said the incidents all involved groups of kids on bikes. Yale police helped city cops in all three incidents.
For block-by-block year-to-date crime info, check the Independent’s crime map.
Where are these kids' parents? How do 20 kids get together at midnight to pounce on and brutally assault two adults walking down the street, then some of the same kids pounce on and assault another adult, without some parent or guardian catching on and intervening?
If the parents or guardians are working or otherwise occupied, they need to figure out someone else to keep on eye on their kids. This feels like a complete breakdown of parenting to me.
I'm sure there are some other factors in play here, but lack of parental supervision, and proper teaching of how to behave and have respect, are at the core of these incidents.
These incidents have no place in our community. Some parents and guardians need to wake up, and stop foisting their lack of interest in their offspring onto innocent people. The results are terrible, as these incidents demonstrate.