A 22-year-old Asian-American was repeatedly punched in the face early Friday in Boulder and forced to say “I love America,” Boulder police reported.
That attack and a reported sexual assault led to condemnations from both university and city officials.
The Asian-American victim told investigators that he was walking in the area of 10th and Marine streets with friends about 1 a.m., singing a song from the movie “Team America.” He said they were confronted by four men.
One of the men — described as being a blond white male about 19 or 20 — said, “Do you think you are an American?” called him a “Chinaman,” punched him repeatedly in the face and told him to say that he loved America.
In an unrelated incident about 15 minutes earlier, police reported that a 20-year-old woman, a student at a community college, was attacked by four men while walking to her Boulder home following a party.
She told investigators that while two of the men held her down, the two others sexually assaulted her.
On Saturday, the rape victim was working with police to try to help identify the suspects.
“We’re continuing to follow up on leads,” said Boulder police department spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
CU-Boulder chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson said the Asian-American victim was a recent CU graduate and that his three companions are current CU students.
Peterson said that attack and the “horrific sexual assault” on the Boulder woman “offend the sensibilities and values of our entire campus community.
“Such violence, whether perpetrated against women or against people because of their ethnicity, has no place in any community but particularly damages a community of learning,” said Peterson.
Staff writer Annette Espinosa contributed to this report.
