BU student recalls attack

On Oct. 7, 2001, Chris Monti was having a birthday party at his Allston apartment on St. Luke’s Rd., a few blocks away from West Campus. He’s not sure how many people were present because as the night progressed, guests came and left as they pleased, like at many college parties.

But Monti, now a College of Engineering senior, said he does remember two men strolling into his apartment that he did not recognize.

‘I talked to them to see what they were about,’ said Monti, recalling the night. ‘Then I realized that I had a class with one of them. But we were by no means friends.’

The two men who walked into Monti’s apartment that night were Boston University College of Engineering students Benjamin Freas and Gerardo Sanabria. Both men were also residents of South Campus’ 43 Buswell St.

A court case against Freas, stemming from the events of that night, ended in late November.

Unsuspecting of the two random guests, Monti continued with his party. After taking a brief walk outside, he came back to his apartment only to find all of his guests suddenly leaving.

‘I didn’t see it, but I smelled it,’ Monti said. Partygoers who were in the apartment at the time told him that the two uninvited guests, Freas and Sanabria, had set off a stink bomb.

‘Obviously no one wanted to stay at the party now,’ said Monti.

Monti says he believes the two men went to Wing It, a restaurant not too far from his apartment, after fleeing the party.

Shortly after 2 a.m., while Monti and three of his friends were outside his apartment contemplating the strange turn of events, they suddenly noticed Freas and Sanabria walking toward them in the direction of Packard’s Corner.

‘I asked them why they threw the stink bomb,’ said Monti. Expecting an explanation, Monti was surprised when Freas denied being present at the party.

‘It’s kind of hard to miss Freas. He’s about 6-foot 4-inches and wears combat boots,’ said Monti.

According to Monti, the two claimed they were coming from Pratt Street and so couldn’t have been at his party. Monti said he later asked a friend who had a party that night on Pratt Street if he had seen either Freas or Sanabria. His friend’s party was also evacuated by a stink bomb.

‘There aren’t too many students that walk around with those,’ Monti said.

According to Monti, his brief interrogation session turned violent as Sanabria began to attack him.

‘He just came at me,’ said Monti. ‘But he didn’t have a weapon.’

Monti said his friends stood in the background but did not involve themselves in the attack.

‘I didn’t see him coming,’ Monti said. ‘[Freas] stabbed me in the arm.’

Monti’s friend Jose Yurrita, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, quickly came to Monti’s defense.

‘[Jose] grabbed Freas and spun him around,’ said Monti. ‘Freas lost his balance and then reached up and stabbed him in the stomach and in the chest.’

Monti said Freas and Sanabria ran east down Commonwealth Avenue. The two men were chased by one of Monti’s friends who called the police on his cell phone while he ran. According to Monti, his friend claimed the two tried to leave the scene in a cab, but were unsuccessful.

‘My friend told the cab driver not to take them,’ said Monti.

The two men, presumably tired of running, finally gave up. According to reports, police found the two men near 972-984 Commonwealth Ave., sitting and out of breath. Freas was also reported as telling police that eight kids were jumping Sanabria and so he ‘stepped in.’

‘According to people who know Freas, he would carry one or several weapons … brass knuckles, a baton, a six-inch knife and go around to parties on the weekend,’ said Monti. ‘He’s basically just a violent person, which is weird because he was a student in ENG.’

Both Monti and Yurrita were taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where Monti received 15 stitches and Yurrita received immediate surgery.

‘His lung was punctured and they damaged his colon,’ Monti said of Yurrita. ‘He told me he thought he was going to die. But the EMTs were telling me that his vital signs were OK.’

Monti said his arm never quite returned to normal. A month later he needed surgery because the knife sliced his bicep in half and fully severed a nerve.

After the attack, Monti learned that Freas and Sanabria had been charged with assault and battery, but the surprise came when he learned that he and five other people had been charged in addition to Freas and Sanabria, bringing the assault and battery charges against a total of eight men.

‘They just took names off the police report and charged us with assault and battery,’ said Monti. ‘We all had to show up in court and pay for lawyers. I was frustrated because I didn’t do anything.’

According to Monti, the charges against him were dropped because Freas, on the advice of his lawyer, Stephen Lipman, continuously plead the Fifth Amendment after each question that was asked to him by Monti’s lawyer, Conrad Bletzer, Jr. during the discovery hearing.

‘They were scumbags,’ said Monti speaking of what he calls the unethical practices of Freas’ lawyers. ‘My lawyer Bletzer would ask him if he stabbed me and if he was at the party and he would just take the fifth.’

However, because Freas was unable to present any evidence against Monti, no case could be drawn against him and so his charges were dropped. Sanabria plead guilty during the discovery hearing and received probation and was ordered to pay a percentage of reparations to Monti and Yurrita.

At the end of the 2001/2002 academic year, Sanabria still accepted his diploma, while Freas was expelled at the end of the fall semester.

Freas’ pre-trial hearing finally came this November. He plead guilty and received an official jail sentence of two-and-a-half years. According to Monti, Freas could have had a stricter sentence.

‘But it was his first offense,’ said Monti. ‘It’s hard to imagine that he never hurt anyone before.’

Although Monti seems pleased with how his case was handled by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he has less favorable feelings about the way it was handled by BU’s Judicial Services.

‘Things take a while and they’re so tight-lipped,’ said Monti. ‘I was a victim of a crime and they didn’t treat me with any sympathy. They’re a cold office.’

According to Monti, BU originally wanted to look more into the party, which involved alcohol. Monti’s parents were not pleased with how long the case took either, Monti said.

Along with Monti, they felt Freas should have been expelled long before the semester ended. ‘But I guess there were just a lot of rules,’ said Monti.

Only a few paragraphs based from the Allston/Brighton crime log appeared in the paper last fall regarding the incident with Monti, Freas and Sanabria.

‘There were a lot of people who knew Freas but didn’t know why he was expelled.’ So Monti decided to tell his story to clear up any circulating rumors or misunderstandings. ‘Students need to know about violence that happens,’ said Monti.

Currently Monti, a native of Newton, is still living in the same apartment on St. Luke’s Street where he says he continues to feel pretty safe. ‘I’m not going to worry about what was a freak accident with a freak person,’ he said.