HARTFORD, Conn. – After a vicious assault on a Trinity College sophomore a few months ago, suspicions turned toward neighborhoods near its Hartford campus. Hundreds of students rallied for tighter security. Police stepped up patrols. And the chairman of the college’s board of trustees pledged to address safety concerns.
The investigation into the March 4 attack has not produced any arrests, but police are now investigating the possibility that fellow Trinity students beat the victim.
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and other city leaders say residents of the poor, ethnically diverse neighborhoods ringing the campus are right to feel that blame was unfairly cast upon them. The liberal arts college is taking steps to patch up its relationship with the community, but the episode remains a sore spot particularly for some Hispanic leaders.
“People should not make presuppositions before they have facts available to them to be able to draw a conclusion,” the Puerto Rico-born Segarra said in an interview. “All people, whether it’s the campus administration or whether it’s the city, whether it’s the community, people need to be more astute, not quick to pass judgment.”
The student, Chris Kenny, was attacked on the edge of campus in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 4. He was hospitalized with a broken jaw and cheekbone.
College officials initially said the assailants were not Trinity students, leaving the impression that they were neighborhood criminals. Kenny and a fellow student who was with him reportedly had told campus security that the attackers were “Spanish.”
Police announced three days after the attack that witnesses reported it was carried out by five White people two men and three women, all in their 20s. Trinity students are widely rumored to have been involved, but Hartford police say the scope of the investigation remains open as they seek more witnesses.
