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Attorney Dow: “My client will be cleared.”
Yale and city cops collected evidence in a dorm this week as part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault.
A Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) student told cops a Yale undergraduate sexually assaulted her in a room at the Timothy Dwight residential college on Temple Street.
The alleged attack took place Sunday. It was one of two rapes reported on the Yale campus within four days this week.
The woman involved in the Sunday incident subsequently went to Yale-New Haven Hospital Tuesday afternoon to be treated for physical injuries. The police were contacted. Yale police arrived to interview her.
“During the assault, she said she was punched in the eye, choked, and forced to perform oral sex and vaginal sex,” according to someone familiar with the case.
Yale police took control of the investigation, with assistance from the New Haven police department’s Bureau of Identification. The Yale investigators and New Haven BOI were collecting evidence in the dorm room beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The Yale student has hired a leading New Haven criminal defense attorney, Willie Dow.
“The parties knew each other. This was a consensual relationship,” Dow told the Independent Friday
“Two witnesses have come forward and provided exculpatory information. I am confident my client will be cleared.”
Yale, as is its practice, has released limited public information about the case to the minimum required by law.
“The Yale Police received a report today that a sexual assault occurred on campus Sunday night,” began a campus-wide email sent out Tuesday evening under the account of Yale Chief Ronnell Higgins. “The victim, a visitor to campus, has reported being sexually assaulted by a Yale College student, who is an acquaintance of the victim, and that the assault occurred on Sunday evening, January 18th, in an on-campus residential college suite.” The email asked people with information about the incident to call (203) 432‑4400.
Further questions have been handled by Yale’s public information office, which stated that it has no other information to release. No arrest had been announced by Friday morning.
Yale Chief Higgins Friday afternoon reported a second rape: “The Yale Police received a report today that a sexual assault occurred on campus, in a residential room, Wednesday night, January 21st. The victim and reported perpetrator are both Yale College students.”
Like other universities across the country, Yale has come under criticism for its handling of sexual assault cases.