http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/crime/s ... 02838.htmlSeverity of beating prompts removal of teens from group homePolice confirm Thursday he is still alive.
By Hannah Poturalski, Staff Writer Updated 7:57 PM Thursday, December 22, 2011
FAIRFIELD TWP. — The severity of an incident this week at a group home for wayward teens has prompted Butler County Children Services to remove some of its juveniles and place them in other care.
A 16-year-old male brutally assaulted between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Monday at One Way Farm on River Road remained on life support Thursday night at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, said Fairfield Twp. Police Chief Richard J. St. John. Medics were called to the home about three hours after the incident — around 11:30 p.m. — when the victim was found unresponsive, St. John said.
“It’s an important aspect that the victim stood up, was talking and walking around and didn’t seem to be injured,” St. John said.
A 17-year-old male is accused of punching the victim, throwing him to the ground - where he landed on his head - and laying on top of him before punching him repeatedly in the head.The suspect, a ward of Warren County Children Services, was arrested late Monday and is being held at Butler County Juvenile Justice Center on the felony charge of aggravated assault. A court date at the juvenile center is set for Jan. 3.
St. John said the investigation is ongoing and detectives would be meeting with the prosecutor’s office.
Jeff Centers, executive director of Butler County Children Services, said the two juveniles involved do not have current or past cases with the department. After the severity of the incident became known, Butler County removed three of its juveniles from One Way Farm and placed them in different care.
St. John said the teens “were fighting over a flashlight that each one claimed was his,” he said.
The victim, a Fairfield High School student, has been in the hospital’s intensive care unit since Monday evening.
St. John said initial reports received Wednesday night said the boy had died, but he learned Thursday the information was false.
Both teenagers are residents of One Way Farm, St. John said. According to police reports,
the teen charged in the assault weighs about 70 pounds more and is eight inches taller than the victim.Greg Elam, board president of One Way Farm, said fights of this severity are “rare events” at the facility. Elam said counselors are on hand to help any juveniles at the facility who might be having a hard time coping with the events.
“As an organization that has been recognized as a leader in healing and helping children live a long and fruitful life, we are doing everything possible to understand and to cope with this unfortunate event that has affected these two children,” Elam said. “With more than 9,000 children coming through the One Way Farm, we have never experienced such loss.”
St. John said officers are called to the facility fairly often, but mainly on reports of runaway juveniles.
One Way Farm is licensed by the state and provides residential care 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The agency has served about 8,500 children since 1976, according to its website. Earlier this year, One Way Farm was granted the 2011 Better Business Bureau Torch Award.
“When an agency has custody of a child they look at the needs and age of the child,” Centers said.
“They will try to place (the child) with family, then with foster care, then in a group home or a residential treatment facility.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or
Hannah.Poturalski@coxinc.com.
