Features

Cal Rugby Flanker Charged in Assault

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 22, 2007

Alameda County prosecutors have charged a member of UC Berkeley’s national championship 2007 rugby team for a May 5 beating that left another student with a broken jaw and brain injuries. 

James Sehr, a six-foot, 190-pound flanker, is charged with assault with great bodily injury for his alleged attack on San Francisco State student Charles Rochon outside the Berkeley co-op where Rochon was living. 

Berkeley Police were called to the Andres Castro Arms at 2310 Prospect St. at 9:48 p.m., where they found Rochon. 

Residents of the cooperative residence told police the incident began after someone threw an object through a Prospect Street window of the residence. 

Rochon went outside to investigate, where he told police he found several members of the rugby team. A confrontation ensued, and Sehr reportedly attacked Rochon after he tried to use his cell phone to call police, said Berkeley Police Lt. Wes Hester. 

When police arrived, Rochon declined their offer of medical attention. 

“He said he wanted no medical attention. We thought it was not anything major,” said then-Berkeley Police spokes-person Officer Ed Galvan. 

But the next day, Rochon spoke to a housemate’s father, a UC Irvine surgeon who insisted he received treatment. At the hospital, doctors discovered he had a broken jaw and a skull fracture. Two surgeries followed in the next five days. 

The attack occurred just hours after Cal rugby players cinched their 16th consecutive national title in a 37-7 victory over Brigham Young University at Steuber Rugby Stadium on the Stanford University campus.