Two students allegedly were assaulted early Saturday morning around 1 a.m. on the corner of Grady Avenue and Rugby Road in what could be one of a series of related assaults.
First-year College students Will Searcy and Warren Waterman were waiting for a friend to leave a party when a car carrying three men pulled up and a young black male jumped out and confronted them, according to Searcy and Waterman.
Charlottesville police reports confirmed the basic accounts of Searcy and Waterman.
Searcy said the man kept trying to pick a fight with him.
"He said, 'You know who I am? I'm a prize fighter. I've knocked three guys out,'" Searcy said.
After trying to avoid a fight, Searcy said he thought the attacker was leaving until he turned around and attacked Waterman.
"Before I knew it, the guy just swung and he punched my friend once, and he punched me once," Searcy said.
Waterman also said the attack went by in a blur.
"A guy got out and basically started talking trash to us and threatening us," Waterman said. "The next thing we knew we both got hit."
Searcy, who suffered a broken nose, and Waterman said they did not know of a motive for the attack.
"This was really kind of random," Waterman said.
According to Sergeant L. A. Durrette, the Charlottesville Police Department's report said there were two incidents that night. Police do not currently know of any motive for the attacks, Durrette said.
Durrette said an investigation was underway, but the detectives assigned to the case were unavailable for comment.
Other details of the incident remained unclear. Searcy said police told him they had apprehended the driver of the car, but Durrette could not confirm that report.
Waterman and Searcy offered similar but not identical descriptions of the attacker. Waterman said he was wearing a baseball hat, had dreadlocks and was well-built. Searcy said he thought the man wore some type of hat, had long hair and was fairly skinny, but added he did not remember the attacker very well.
Durrette would only describe the attacker, the driver and the third passenger as black males.
The car, according to Waterman, was a tan-colored "old-style sedan."
Senior Writer Jason Amirhadji contributed to this report.
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