By Andy Nelesen at greenbaypressgazette.com
Three Green Bay teens were convicted Monday of beating up a 15-year-old disabled classmate in October.
Cole Young, Shawn Quayle and Justin Bower, all 18, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor party to the crimes of battery and criminal damage to property. They were originally charged with felony physical abuse of a childand criminal damage to property.
According to the criminal complaint, the boys chased the victim – who was riding a bicycle – from Ninth Street through Colburn Park to Fisk Street and down Seventh Street. The suspects rode in a minivan as the victim pedaled west along Mason Street, crossed Military Avenue and fled through Fireman’s Park.
At Kennedy Elementary School, the suspects hit the victim’s bike
with the minivan. The older boys held the victim on the ground, kicked him and
spit on him and choked him with his shirt. At one point, Young asked the
victim, “How does a steel toe feel?” and then stomped on the victim’s
head.
The victim, who is now 16, did not appear in court. His parents were
present for Monday’s hearing. The victim’s mother said he suffers from
high-functioning autism.
Quayle and Young were sentenced to 90 days in jail. Their lawyers
declined to accept probation as a punishment because both young men said
they were joining the U.S. Marine Corps and were expected to report for
duty in August. Being on probation would disqualify them from joining.
Brown County Circuit Court Judge Kendall Kelley described the
incidentas “outrageous.”
Quayle told Kelley he was sorry and remorseful for his actions,
which he said were “stupid and childish.”
“What it was, in fact, was brutal . that’s different,” Kelley said.
Bower, who is not joining the military, was sentenced to two years’
probation and 30 days in jail. The young men must pay restitution of $469
for the victim’s medical bills and damage to his bicycle.