December 6, 2006
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Report: New Details in BU Assault
CHN Staff Report
BOSTON — In the Boston University student-athlete assault case, there were more players involved, and it wasn't a random attack. Those new details came to light today in the attack on four BU student-athletes outside a student residence following a party early Sunday morning.
That attack left BU defenseman Kevin Schaeffer with a broken orbital bone, concussion and dislocated thumb. Senior Sean Sullivan was also briefly hospitalized, and goalie John Curry was attacked as well.
Schaeffer, a native of Long Island, has played in every game since his freshman year. He is sure to miss this weekend's game against Providence, however, which would snap the consecutive games played streak at 132.
Schaeffer
In what was previously described as a random attack, more details emerged after BU coach Jack Parker spoke again with the players, according to a report in the Daily Free Press.
According to the report, Parker ascertained that backup goalie Karson Gillespie and a student that's not on the hockey team were involved in a scuffle at the party one hour before the more major incident. At least one person involved in that altercation was involved in the later beatings of the three BU players, and is being sought by police.
There was also another incident during the party.
According to witness reports, the attack on the three BU players, plus a women's lacrosse player, was the culmination of the two earlier confrontations. Men who are not BU students returned wearing black hooded sweatshirts, carrying baseball bats, wrenches and crowbars, according to the report.
The lacrosse player was earlier reported to have a broken jaw, but a new report in the Daily Free Press indicates otherwise.
"She saw [Sullivan] knocked out and went to grab him out of the fight because he was knocked out and bleeding," a source told the Daily Free Press. "She went and grabbed him and she got hit in the face with a bat. Nothing's broken [in her jaw]. It's just bad, so I think they blatantly hit her."
Parker said that Schaeffer may need surgery to repair the fracture around his eye, but that cannot be determined until the wounds heal.
According to the new details in the Daily Free Press, citing various sources including Parker's second-hand accounts, Gillespie left the party at 3 a.m. to bring home a friend that had too much too drink.
"Gillespie wound up getting in a fight with the guy and then another guy got involved with it, so it was a 2-on-1 with Gillespie," Parker told the paper. "His buddy ... was useless to him, and somebody went back in and told the guys ... that Gillespie was in a fight. So [Brian] McGuirk and Curry went down, McGuirk [went] first, and broke it up. ... Curry came down, by the time Curry got there it was broken up completely and it was, they thought, the end of it."
Apparently, afterwards, things escalated when the others involved in the fight came back with weapons. Schaeffer was knocked out by one of the assailants, and fell down stairs, dislocating his thumb.
"It was such a drunken mess," a source told the paper. "There were so many girls just trying to get in the way to break it up. I think [Morton] was throwing herself to protect the other kid. Hopefully, a guy wouldn't hit a girl with a bat."
Parker maintained that the players will not be disciplined, since the party was within team rules.
"Nothing good happens after two o'clock in the morning anyways, but I don't have any guys breaking any team rules," Parker told the Free Press. "Here we have a team rule that you can't drink except for Saturday night. If you're under 21, you can't drink at all. The guys were of age and it was Saturday night, so I don't have any problem with that. They were at a BU party for BU friends and all of a sudden they get accosted by some folks from out of town."
