After initially saying he was not guilty, one of the tweens who dropped a shopping cart four stories from an East Harlem Target onto Marion Salmon Hedges before Halloween has changed his tune. "Uh, I help throw the shopping cart over it and I knew the people was down there. I knew somebody could have got hurt," the boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, said in a brief statement to the court yesterday.
The boy who pleaded guilty today turns 13 today and has been described as "the baddest boy in the building" at the Washington Houses. Despite attempts by his lawyer to get him reunited with his parents for his birthday and for Thanksgiving, the court decided he will remain in custody of the Administration for Children's Services. He faces up to 18 months in juvenile detention for second-degree assault charges (and "The sentence could be extended indefinitely until he reaches the age of 18.").
The other boy accused in the shopping cart tossing may also plead to reduced felony assault charges. Hedges, the mother of two, remains in a coma.
