A 13-year-old boy was among the seven youths charged in two apparently random attacks that occurred in Downtown in January.
In one of the incidents, which 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 and repeatedly punched and kicked him until he was motionless. An eighth attacker then ran towards him and punched and kicked him.
Judge Kari Bloom on Wednesday in Hamilton County Juvenile Court asked the 13-year-old to explain why he participated in the attack and why he punched and kicked the victim even after he appeared to be unconscious.
The boy, wearing a gray polo shirt, black pants and gray sandals — a uniform for youth 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 wasn’t in the right mind.”
The 13-year-old, who attended Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School, also told officials he was involved in a gang at the time.
It was one of several hearings Wednesday for youth who took part in the January incidents. The 13-year-old had already admitted his role and pleaded guilty to assault.
Bloom placed him on probation and said he would be sent to a locked juvenile facility in northern Ohio. He will attend school there, undergo cognitive behavioral therapy and, if necessary, receive mental health treatment. The 13-year-old said he is in eighth grade. Bloom told him he would stay at the facility until ninth grade.
January 23 incident
Also Wednesday, a 15-year-old boy who admitted to being involved in the attack on a 45-year-old man on East Sixth Street appeared in front of Bloom. That incident happened on the evening of January 23.
Video showed the man walking on the sidewalk when several people approached from behind and slammed him into the concrete. He was kicked repeatedly, even after he was already on the ground. He got a black eye and his phone was broken.
Prosecutors said the man does not speak English and did not know the teenagers who attacked him.
A total of four juveniles, including the 15-year-old boy, have pleaded guilty to assault in that incident, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Bloom placed the 15-year-old on probation. If he violates probation, Bloom said she would send him to the County Youth Center, “until I decide what to do with you, otherwise.”
Teen must stay away from Downtown
It was the 15-year-old’s first crime.
Bloom told him that state law prevented her from sending him to a juvenile detention facility. She said she must first impose other measures.
She ordered him to stay away from Downtown and told him to attend another high school in the fall.
The hearings for three others who pleaded guilty to at least one of the January attacks were rescheduled on Wednesday for later this month. An 18-year-old charged as an adult in the Jan. 23 incident is awaiting trial.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 13-year-old tells judge about his role in downtown Cincinnati attack
