A white teen accused of racially attacking a Black boy by trying to drown him at Goose Pond in Chatham, Mass., was released to the custody of his father following his court appearance on Monday.
John Sheeran, 14, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the incident on July 19, NBC Boston News reported.
The alleged victim told police that he told Sheeran he could not swim.
Witnesses saw Sheeran and another youth, accused of laughing and calling the Black child “George Floyd,” put the boy into the water, as Sheeran repeatedly dunked him under.
Sheeran and the other child are both white, authorities have said.
Two witnesses told investigators that they saw Sheeran on top of the victim in the water and heard someone say, “George Floyd.”
Sheeran was indicted by a Barnstable County grand jury last month and ordered held without bail after a hearing. He was placed in the custody of the Department of Youth Services, the outlet reported.
A judge agreed to release Sheeran until his trial, ordering conditions including GPS monitoring, staying with his father, reporting to probation regularly, and staying away from potential witnesses in the case.
The teen’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, told the Boston Globe that his client’s charges are “over the top” for what amounted to “horseplaying” that “got out of control.”
He plans on appealing to the Superior Court to have Sheeran released.
All of the people involved are juveniles, as well as the witnesses, and all but Sheeran had their names redacted from the report. Sheeran’s name was not redacted, as he is being tried as a youth offender, a designation that gives Massachusetts prosecutors the choice to get an adult sentence for children between 14 and 17 years old who are charged with a felony and when other criteria are met, including a charge that involves the infliction or threat of serious bodily harm.
In a document provided to police, the alleged victim gave a statement on what happened at the pond, saying he was called “racial slurs like ‘boy,'” intentionally, and said Sheeran tried to pull him under the water four or five times.
He said he called for help and was brought to shore by someone who intervened.
The witness provided a statement to police saying he’d heard the alleged victim ask Sheeran “to please not splash or push him because of his inability to swim” and then saw Sheeran and the other youth “pushing his head underwater” while the victim was “screaming for help.” The witness said he swam over and yelled at the two attackers to stop.
“When I finally get to them, they were smirking,” that child wrote.
Chatham police referred the case to prosecutors on July 24, who said they found probable cause for various charges, according to court documents.
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