Mike on Crime

The Associated Press

TORRINGTON, Connecticut – A group of teenagers misunderstood a woman’s screams during sex and, thinking they were stopping an assault, beat a 25-year-old man in her bedroom, police said.

A 16-year-old girl who lives in the same home as the 34-year-old woman overheard her and the man on June 6 and rounded up four friends to stop what they thought was an attack, police Lt. Bruce Whiteley said Thursday.

One of the five teens beat the man with a bat and others punched him, police said. The man was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, and was released that night.

“Apparently he didn’t have time to explain himself,” Whiteley said.

The girl, two 17-year-old boys and Dilyen Langdeau, 19, were arrested Tuesday night and arraigned in Bantam Superior Court on Wednesday. Langdeau was charged with assault and conspiracy; the teens face similar counts. The fifth teenager was not charged.

A judge sealed the police report. The names of the girl and the two boys were not released because of their ages. The girl’s relationship to the woman wasn’t clear.

Messages left at a phone listing in the woman’s name and at a phone listing for Langdeau’s address were not immediately returned. It wasn’t clear if Langdeau has hired an attorney.

There was no phone listing for the victim.