Other Injuries: Minor Son Assaulted by Another Minor

samedi 20 septembre 2014

My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: MI



First off, I'm sorry, but this is going to be long. I'm trying to be as concise as I can, but many of the little details are important.



My son is 16 years old, and was diagnosed with static encephalopathy (unchanging brain damage) and has been that way since birth as far as I know. He never showed any problems when very young, but when he started school it was evident. He gets along with everyone he meets and is a very friendly and trusting person. He is home schooled but has a lot of interaction with children in the neighborhood, church, camp, etc. He associates better with kids in the 12-14 age range because his mind set is more on their level. He has a decent number of kids that are his age as well, mostly from church, that accept him just as he is. In the last few months he has made some new friends that attend the local high school. I've met a few of them, they seemed nice to me and he has been so very happy to spend time with them.



Last weekend my son was with a couple of his female friends, and at some point, they were joined by 2 boys. He knew who they were, but I don't know how long he has known them. Neither of the girls he was with are involved with the boys that joined them. They were all goofing around from what my son said, and at some point Boy A tells my son to smack boy B on the butt. My son attempted to do that and boy B told him to stop, and my son did stop. My son said that he never made contact with boy B. Shortly after that, Boy A again urged my son to try to smack Boy B on the butt, laughing as if it were a game. So he attempted again, missed, and then Boy B hit my son in the eye area with his fist which knocked him to the ground. My son doesn't think that he was knocked out. He said he sat there for a few minutes, and then rode his bike home. The kids told him not to tell anyone what had actually happened and told him to say that he fell off his bike. I don't know if they threatened him about this or not, but I do know that my son has never lied to me before, and he knows the difference between the truth and a lie.



Shortly after he arrived home I found out that he was injured, he was in so much pain that he was barely able to speak. I took him to the ER where they checked his vision and did a CT scan on him. The doctor told us that he had a blowout fracture of the orbit bone & a fractured cheek bone. He prescribed some pain medication & antibiotics because the cheek bone is over the sinuses. We were instructed to follow up with our PC physician and an ENT doctor.



The next day I found out what actually happened & we went to the PD to report the incident. The deputy saw his injuries, took pictures, looked at some messages that my son had received from his so called friends asking if he had told anyone the truth or not, and wrote down the names of the people that he had been with. He filled out a form describing what had happened as well.



The deputy interviewed the kids, and all of them told basically the same thing as what my son had written. The boy that hit my son did claim that he had smacked him on the butt as well as the groin, which my son denied. The deputy mentioned to me that possible charges could be assault with attempt to inflict GBH less than murder given the severity of his injuries.



I called the ENT doctor that we were referred to, but they weren't the type of doctor he needed to see because of the orbit fracture. We saw our primary care physician & got a referral to a maxillofacial surgeon for the next day. We also found out then that there were 3 fractures instead of the 2 we were told about at the ER. The 3rd fracture was in the roof of his mouth. The orbital fracture was the one our doctor was most concerned with.



We went to the surgeon's office and he looked at the cat scans and examined him. He said that my son was very lucky because the orbital bones had not captured the eye or tissues around the eye and are where they need to be in order to heal and shouldn't need to be fixed surgically unless something changes. He did warn that something as simple as a sneeze could change that so he has to be very careful. He is able to do light activities like walking, but no heavy lifting or strenuous activities. For how long, I don't know. We go back in 4 weeks for a check up and x-rays.



I was made aware by a friend that one of the two boys had made a video of what happened and that they were showing the video to other kids at the park where a lot of them hang out. I guess they think it's a big joke or something, because they were laughing when they showed the video to my friends son. He went home and told his mother, who in turn told me about it. He described to his mom what my son had been wearing, what the kids said and ultimately, the end result. To me, the video screams that the whole thing was a set-up. Kids don't record stuff like that unless they know something is going to happen.



I reported this info the the police, along with the name of the person who had taken the video. It was a different deputy than the one who had taken the original report, but he said he would relay the info along. I was told that I would need to get the phone number of the boy, along with his cell carrier, and if possible, the video itself. I thought to myself, now how the heck am I going to do that because those kids aren't going to tell me anything. I have searched social websites, youtube, etc. for this video and thus far I haven't been able to find it. I did talk to the first deputy again today and she said she would try and get a written statement from my friends son soon. She mentioned today something about the charges might be something along the lines of aggravated assault which is a lesser charge than the assault with intent charge that she mentioned before.



The boy who hit my son is 16 or 17, he's a junior in high school and out-weighs my son by almost 100 pounds. This kid I found out later is a notorious bully in our area and may currently be on probation for something else.



My questions are:



I know that in MI they have a victim rights thing, and that they can order medical expenses to be reimbursed. I would like to know if we were to ask for something for my son's pain and suffering, what would be the likelihood of that being ordered?



What would the chances be of him being charged as an adult?



What is the difference between assault with intent to inflict GBH and aggravated assault? Is there a condition that has to be met to qualify it for the more serious offense?



If I were able to get my hands on the video, would that make any impact on the prosecuting attorney to determine if there was intent on his part to hurt my son, or possibly premeditation?



If I can't get the video myself, how can it be gotten? I really think it's crucial for the prosecuting attorney and judge to see how things actually went down.



If any of you have a suggestion of places to look for it please let me know. I've been searching facebook, youtube, & twitter relentlessly the past 3 days, and I'm willing to do anything and everything I can to bring it to light. I've even considered putting a $200 reward out for anyone who brings the video to me, but I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not. I don't want to do anything that might look bad on us in this case.



I'm open for any suggestions, so please help point me in the right direction. I feel like I'm :wallbang: at the moment.



Thank you!





Other Injuries: Minor Son Assaulted by Another Minor

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