Shopping Cart Tossing Tweens Plead Not Guilty, Mother Tearfully Apologizes To Victim

The walkway between Target and Costco from which the shopping cart was pushed (AP).

The two 12-year-old boys charged with pushing a Target shopping cart from a fourth-floor walkway onto 47-year-old Upper West Side mother Marion Salmon Hedges last week pleaded (the juvenile equivalent of) not guilty in court yesterday. And the mom for one of the boys offered a tearful apology to Hedges, who is in a coma in critical condition, outside court: “It’s a terrible, terrible thing. I really hope she recuperates. I really, really feel for her and her children,” Rosemary Rosario told reporters.

She added that her son feels horrible as well, and said she felt overwhelmed trying to raise him: “He’s sorry to the family that got affected...He’s only 12 years old. He’s a good kid. I just need help. I am a single mom,” Rosario said. The lawyers for the two boys, who are charged with first-degree assault, asked the judge to let them out of custody and go home with their moms, so they could keep attending school. Lawyer Shahabuddeen Ally noted, “This is a tragedy. This act may have been silly, foolish or sophomoric, but it was not intentional."

But prosecutors petitioned to keep the two boys confined, saying they have “at least 10 witnesses” and a videotape of the tragic incident. A probation official said both kids have missed minimal amounts of school this year—and one maintains a 96 average—but added that one boy has a history of suspensions and being “disrespectful” to his teachers. A former babysitter previously said of one of the pre-teens was "the baddest boy in the building."

The boys were ordered to remain locked up until their next hearing on Nov. 18, when they’re expected to go trial. If convicted, the boys each face 18 months in a juvenile detention center, and further hearings could keep them locked up till they're 18. Officials are also looking into the fact that the walkway the boys are said to have thrown the cart from would have been illegal if it had only been built by the city.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on November 5, 2011 10:20 AM

Comments [rss]

Jake

Getting sick and tired of these two punks. We really need to stone them to death already and be done with this. 96 average my ass. Compared to the other crappy kids in that crappy school of his yes he probably has a 96 average. On a national scale he's probably well below average.
Kids like these two idiots are a total waste of breath and time. Just get rid of them, discard them like the pieces of garbage that they are.

RammyH

This is beyond stupidity and impulsiveness - it was a friggin' mall in broad daylight. There must have been and I'm sure continues to be a constant stream of people walking under those walkways. The boys weren't horsing around on top of an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night on a deserted street - it was a mall. And another boy physically removed a shopping cart from them after yelling at them not to throw a shopping cart.

I feel awful for that mother, so overwhelmed and she knows her kid acted in such a stupendously stupid manner that his crime is basically unforgivable.These kids, I don't know what I'd do with them.

JacksBack72

. . .and the 'walkway' would hve been 'legal' had it been constructed in Madison, Wisconsin- or even in Moscow! <-(Tthe one in Russia!) . . .

katalambano

Where are America's dads? They are missing and it's taking its toll.

Pishikus

Jay, city buildings are required to have walkways with walls of at least 8 feet and that curve in. Private buildings have different requirements. Although, who would have foreseen people throwing a shopping cart 4 stories off the ground onto a human being? They had to push the cart up and over, and in a government building walkway, they physically would not have been able to do so.

Timon_8

The mother's name is Rosemary Rosario? That explains the whole thing--the kid is Rosemary's Baby!

Jay!

Can someone explain the situation with the walkway to me? If the city built it it would have been illegal but if it's built by anyone else it's fine ?

I don't understand.

Dan Smith

Shahabuddeen Ally needs to have a shopping cart unintentionally dropped on his head.

theevilerone

Sheesh, those kids should plead guilty and take the 18 months.

whitecastlerock

It was foolish, sophomoric, and intentional...

m_c_nyc

Does anybody ever pleads guilty??? Whole system is setup for lawyers and courts to make money.
Tragic story. I hope victim will get better soon and those kids will not end up in jail

Eggcream

Are you a (NY) Post graduate, sir?

Greg Froober

people plead guilty all the time, it's a called a plea bargain. It occurs more often than a not guilty plea

Dirk

Actually I hope those kids end up in jail and for a long time.

Better yet, let's put them in a cart and toss them over the fourth floor walkway and see what happens.

nate

Uhh, upwards of 90% of criminal charges nationwide never go to trial, either because of a guilty plea, an alternative disposition, or dropped charges. New York gives defendants an enormous incentive to plead guilty, by offering generous plea bargains (and the possibility of crazy jail sentences on conviction), and most defendants accordingly plead guilty. If you think criminal defense lawyers are making bank off of trials, you're pretty far off the mark. Most criminal defense attorneys have insane workloads and make middling incomes at best. There are lots of rich lawyers; few of them do criminal defense.

Jamie_McDonald

Yeah, because I'm sure that if anyone has a bottomless well of money for the lawyers to drain, it's a single mother in Harlem. Also, can you explain how courts make money? I wasn't aware that they were a for-profit institution at all. In fact, I thought I'd heard that the state budget for courts had been pretty dramatically slashed over the last year. Could you set me straight on that one, please?

taracorinne

yeah, especially if one of those kids really does have good grades and good behavior. sad how one stupid friend can corrupt a good kid.

I really hope the victim recuperates. It seems she is a pillar in her community and heavily involved.

Meow212

Gothamist didn't summarize this news feed correctly. Both kids had a history of bad behavior. The one with the 96 average has been suspended from school at least once and his teacher testified that he was a problem. The other has 19 absences from school and I think 56 latenesses. Neither of these boys were good kids. Both were criminals in training.

Amber

So now being chronically late to school means you're going to become a criminal? Ease up on the hyperbole, grandpa.

Nicole Lee

Really? Pull your head out. The boys good grades or truancy don't have anything to do with his criminal activity. BUT... if someone wants to bring up his good grades in an attempt to shine a good (merciful) light on him, why not bring up the bad with the good and look at his whole character? It's only fair right?

Instead of trying to just argue for the sake of arguing, have a little empathy and put yourself in this victim's or her family's shoes.

Would you be a little more realistic about the situation and less inclined to leave pointless remarks like the one you left above if someone threw a shopping cart on someone you loved or even on yourself...

Just think how tragic it would be if you could no longer blow bubbles, listen to indie rock, or bitch about capitalism anymore. I know I would feel bad if that happened to you.