A local family is still reeling after finding out that their son, a San Marcos High School graduate and star athlete, was violently assaulted early Sunday after he was attacked in Berkeley and sustained brain injuries.
Thayer White, a sophomore at UC Berkeley, has been hospitalized for almost a week after an attack occurred outside his fraternity house, where he and another fraternity member, Benjamin Calder, were reportedly struck in the head with a baseball bat, leaving them with serious injuries.
According to the Daily Californian, the incident took place early Sunday in the parking lot of the Zeta Psi fraternity between two groups of men after several men unaffiliated with the fraternity were asked to leave the house.
A confrontation ensued and one of the men allegedly struck White in the head with the bat, then did the same to Calder before fleeing the scene.
Berkeley police announced that they had made an arrest in the case, and that they were charging Frank Watson, 23, of Oakland, with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
White, whose father is prominent local orthodontist Dr. Stewart White, is still in the hospital. Calder suffered less severe injuries and was recently released from the hospital, the Daily Californian reported.
White’s mother, Michele, has been updating family and friends through the CaringBridge website.
Michele White said her son was brought to a Castro Valley hospital early Sunday, and confirmed that he was hit in the left temple with a baseball bat.
“He has a severe brain bruise and small skull fracture,” she wrote, adding that doctors had been able to minimize the swelling with medications and that the “bleed” did not seem to be getting worse.
On Thursday, she added a post saying he had been trying to talk more to people around him and that his physical movement seemed unaffected.
Michele White said her husband and their daughters, Hannah and Kendall, were traveling to the Bay Area and would be with their son through the weekend.
“This is all so strange and surreal for us,” she wrote. “The outreach from home feels like it increases by the day as more people find out. … Praying and sending your good thoughts and energy to Thayer is the best thing you can all do.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
