UPDATE: Cops Probe Attack On Latino Man, 25, Near Yale As Hate Crime

NEW HAVEN, CT — There's video, police said Thursday. Now investigators are looking for the, at least two and possibly five or more, white males involved in a hate crime attack Saturday.

In a GoFundMe appeal, the partner of a "Franklin," a 25-year-old Latino man wrote that he suffered a broken jaw and has multiple facial fractures after being attacked just after midnight.

Claudia Gaebler wrote that as she and her partner were walking home on York Street, near Yale's Davenport College, "five or six young white men, possibly Yale students, ran into us and immediately became aggressive and violent."

She said they "yelled racial slurs" at him and began "punching him in the face." She wrote that when Franklin asked why they were attacking him and hurling racist epithets, they became angrier and "two boys within the group begin punching him in the face at the same time."

They'd take off once, "he was on the ground bleeding from his head and face," she wrote.

Gaebler said a group of "kind" Yale students came to their aid and a friend of the group, an EMT, "wrapped his head to stop the bleeding."

They went to the Yale New Haven Hospital ER, where he was found to have, Gaebler wrote, a broken jaw, fractures on both sides of his face, and needed scalp stables. He'll need oral and facial surgery, she said. Her GoFundMe has raised nearly $11,000 of a $15,000 goal to help cover medical bills.

The attack and subsequent response by Yale and New Haven cops was witnessed by a number of people, the Yale Daily News first reported.

The crime scene was on a city street, so that's New Haven, not Yale, police in charge. Police spokesperson Scott Shumway said a report on the attack was "filed after the officer went to the hospital."

Police Chief Karl Jacobson said Wednesday it's being investigated as a possible hate crime. He said the department's Special Victims and Hate and Bias units are investigating.

"We are putting all our resources to bear to ensure that the perpetrators are caught and brought to justice," he said in a statement.

He said that the victim isn't a Yale student, "but his girlfriend is."

There's video of the attack

Thursday, Jacobson said it was a "serious assault that may be a hate crime; we're as a handling it like it is." He added that investigators "do have some video of a portion of the incident," which was given to police "by a citizen" and captures the "end of the assault." The police chief said that as Yale cameras are omnipresent, investigators expect to get more video.

Police said that even with the video they have, they cannot get a positive ID of the assailants as the video was taken from a distance. Assistant Police Chief Bertram Ettienne added that "there were also possibly females" in the group of five or more.

Ettienne said the incident, which happened near 284 York St., began with a "brief bump" and then "words were exchanged that led to the assault."

Jacobson said the victim has "serious injuries." He said there are "several witnesses" to the attack, and that "Franklin," identified two white males as the ones who assaulted him but were among a group of "possibly five white males" involved in the bias attack.

"We want to talk to them, and hopefully arrest some of them," Jacobson said.

Jacobson also took responsibility for not handling the case "quicker" and has notified the detective division via email that going forward, if an incident has a "possible racial hate violation, we've got to get that moving right away." Especially on weekends.

Jacobson thanked the Yale Daily News for digging into the incident, noting the student newspaper "pointed out some good stuff."

Anyone with information should call the detective bureau at 203-946-6304 or drop an anonymous tip at 866-888-TIPS.