NEWS RELEASE

RIVERSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT 31 Riverside Road, Riverside, IL 60546

16 April 2014
Contact:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chief Tom Weitzel
tweitzel@riverside.il.us

708.447.2127

Follow RPD on Twitter @pdriverside

Riverside Police Make Battery Arrest in Unprovoked Attack in Hallway at RBHS

Police make two arrests in which attack was videotaped

On Monday April 14, 2014 at 3:20 p.m., the Riverside Police were dispatched to Riverside Brookfield High School for a report of a fight in the hallway which had been broken up by high school staff before police arrived. When officers arrived, they spoke to the Dean of Students and other witnesses and were able to learn the following. The unprovoked attack took place about 3:05 p.m. in a hallway by a set of vending machines inside the high school. The victim, a 16 year-old juvenile from North Riverside, stated that when the bell rang she had salt water thrown at her face and was pulled to the ground by her hair. She then was kicked and punched in the face and body several times by the offender. During this battery, a second student, who had been asked by the offender to step back in the crowd and videotape the beating, actually did so. The video of the attack was taken into custody by Riverside Police and is being held as evidence in the court case. From interviews it was learned that that the attack was preplanned as the offender prearranged to have the attack videotaped by a second student. Once in police custody and at the station, the juvenile offender who battered the other juvenile student stated the entire incident was over an ex-boyfriend who was sitting at the same lunch table as the victim. Riverside Police did charge one female juvenile, 15 of North Riverside with one count of battery and one count of mob action. A second female juvenile, 14 of Riverside was charged with mob action for videotaping the attack which police alleged was preplanned. The female victim (14 of North Riverside) was treated at McNeal Hospital in Berwyn for facial and body injuries. The victim was later released that same day.

Members of the public are reminded that this arrest and complaint contains only charges and is not proof of the defendants g uilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial in which it is the governments burden to prove his or her guilt beyond a reason able doubt.