Landlord doubts account of raid

A landlord ordered Boston College basketball player Jermaine Watson out of his Brighton apartment after Watson blamed extensive damage to the apartment on a band of armed men who he said stormed in after a party early Saturday and chased him out through a second-story window.

Watson moved out of the apartment Sunday night with the help of his mother, according to the landlord, Edward Yankovski.

Yankovski and his wife, who own the three-story apartment building on Foster Street, said they question the veracity of Watson's account, saying the second-floor window that Watson told police he escaped through still had a significant amount of glass in the frame.

Yankovski said that he did not believe Watson could have squeezed through the hole in the window and that he suspects the window was broken during the party. Watson is 6-foot-3-inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, according to the Boston College website.

''It was broken like someone hit it . . . It's just not possible," Yankovski said.

However, a first-floor tenant said a roommate told him that he heard loud noises and the sound of breaking glass coming from Watson's apartment early Saturday, noises that the roommate said backed up Watson's account of a band of armed men raiding the apartment. The tenant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not home at the time.

Police would not comment yesterday.

''We're investigating and interviewing witnesses," said Officer John Boyle. ''It's an open investigation."

Watson, a 23-year-old Boston native, did not practice with the Eagles yesterday and could not be reached for comment. The team is scheduled to leave today for Cleveland, in advance of its first-round tournament game Thursday against Pennsylvania.

Boston police went to Watson's apartment twice Saturday, the first time when Watson and a 21-year-old woman argued as a party at the apartment was breaking up about 3:45 a.m. The second was about an hour later, when Watson and two friends said a handful of men armed with knives, guns, and baseball bats had raided the apartment and chased them out.

Police found Watson, who had severe cuts on his left hand and ear, and one of his friends hiding in bushes outside, a police report states. Officers found the other friend in a nearby parking lot.

The police report on the incident says the three men did not give a clear description of their attackers. One of the men said he could offer no description, while another said only that they were masked. The third said they were black, then described them as Cape Verdean, and finally said he thought they were Hispanic.

''The victims had conflicting descriptions of the suspects and were evasive and uncooperative when questioned further for description," the report states.

Yankovski said he has already spent about $700 and will probably need to spend more, to repair the damages to the apartment, which included smashed bathroom and bedroom doors.

''My tenants are scared," Yankovski said yesterday. ''They asked me to ask him to move out."

Watson moved into the apartment in January and was subletting a bedroom from another student, Yankovski said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.