Among the seven minors charged two seemingly random attacks who performed downtown in January was a 13-year-old boy.
In one of the incidentswhich occurred on the afternoon of January 24 on East Fifth Street, a 15-year-old boy was attacked by a large group.
The 15-year-old was thrown to the sidewalk. Seven attackers surrounded him, punching and kicking him repeatedly until he was immobile. An eighth attacker then rushed towards him and punched and kicked him.
In Hamilton County Juvenile Court on Wednesday, Judge Kari Bloom asked the 13-year-old to explain why he participated in the attack and why he punched and kicked the victim, even after she appeared unconscious.
The boy, dressed in a gray polo shirt, black pants and gray sandals — a uniform for juveniles held at the county Youth Center — told Bloom he was hanging out with the wrong people.
“I was influenced to do that,” he said, adding, “I was in the wrong direction.”
The 13-year-old, who attended Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School, also told authorities he was involved in a gang at the time.
It was one of several hearings Wednesday for juveniles who participated in the January incidents. The 13-year-old had already admitted his role and pleaded to criminal assault.
Bloom placed him on probation and said he would be sent to a confined youth residential facility in northern Ohio. There he will attend school, undergo cognitive behavioral therapy and receive mental health treatment, if necessary. The 13-year-old said he was in eighth grade. Bloom told him to expect to stay at the facility until ninth grade.
January 23 incident
Also Wednesday, a 15-year-old boy who admitted to participating in attack a 45 year old man on East Sixth Street appeared before Bloom. This incident occurred on the evening of January 23.
The video showed the man walking on the sidewalk when several people approached from behind and slammed him into the concrete. He was kicked several times, even when he was already on the ground. He had a black eye and his phone was broken.
Prosecutors said the man did not speak English and did not know the teens who attacked him.
A total of four juveniles, including the 15-year-old boy, pleaded guilty to assault in the incident, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Bloom placed the 15-year-old on probation. If he violates probation, Bloom said she will send him to the county youth center, “until I decide what to do with you, otherwise.”
Teenager should stay away from the city center
This was the 15-year-old’s first criminal offense.
Bloom told him state law prevented him from sending him to a youth prison. She said she had to impose other measures first.
She ordered him to stay away from the city center and told him he had to attend a different high school in the fall.
Hearings for three other people who entered pleas in at least one of the January attacks were postponed Wednesday until the end of the month. An 18-year-old charged as an adult in the Jan. 23 incident is awaiting trial.
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: 13-year-old tells judge about role in downtown Cincinnati attack
