Page One

Two operations and five days after he was beaten outside a Berkeley student co-op, a San Francisco State student remains under medical care at Summit Alta Bates Hospital. 

Charles Rochon, a resident of the Andres Castro Arms co-op at 2310 Prospect St., sustained a skull fracture, a broken jaw and other injuries in a fight with at least one man, identified by friends as a member of the national championship UC Berkeley rugby team. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said police were called at 9:48 p.m. Saturday about an incident near the intersection of Prospect Street and Channing Way. 

Officers interviewed Rochon at the scene, and “he said he wanted no medical service. We thought it was not anything major,” said Galvan. 

A housemate’s father, a UC Irvine faculty member and physician, insisted that he should see a doctor when asked for advice by telephone. He was admitted to the hospital the next day, where the full extent of his injuries was diagnosed. 

Rochon then told his story to Berkeley detectives, who have launched an investigation, Galvan said. 

“We took the case,” said the officer. “We are currently working on an investigation, and we can’t release anything more than that.” 

Rochon, reached at the hospital, declined to comment on the attack, other than to say “I wish I could tell you what happened, but I’ve been advised not to talk” until he can meet with an attorney. 

The incident reportedly began after something was thrown through a window of the co-op, now covered with flattened segments of a cardboard box. A confrontation outside was followed by the beating, said the friend.  

The attack followed the rugby team’s capture of the national title in a 37-7 win over Brigham Young University in a game played at Stanford. 

A call to Irene Hegarty, UC Berkeley’s director of community relations, had not been returned by deadline.