Two Kent teens charged with second-degree assault in beating death of man

Two Kent teens have been charged with second-degree assault in the August beating death of a 56-year-old man on a bicycle that reportedly was done to avenge a domestic violence relationship the man had with the mother of a third teen still being sought by Kent Police.

A 17-year-old boy, a Kent-Meridian High School student, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and could face a sentence of 15 to 36 weeks at a state Department of Corrections youth facility, according to a plea of guilty statement signed by the teen on Oct. 2.

“I intentionally assaulted Troy Harrison by kicking him in the head,” the boy wrote in a statement. “I recklessly inflicted substantial bodily harm to him.”

The teen has a disposition at 10 a.m. on Nov. 20 at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center when a judge will decide the next steps for the boy.

A 16-year-old boy, a Kentridge High student, pleaded not guilty Oct. 2. He has a routine pre-trial hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 9, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He remains in custody as requested by prosecutors and ordered by the court.

Both boys were charged Oct. 1 by King County prosecutors in the Juvenile Division of King County Superior Court. Because the teens are being charged in juvenile court, the Kent Reporter is not naming them. Kent Police arrested both boys Sept. 26 at their high schools.

As of Friday, Oct. 4, Kent Police were still searching for the third teen, a 15-year-old Kent boy who reportedly joined the other two in the beating of Harrison at about 8:40 p.m. Aug. 22 near East James Street and Central Avenue North.

Prosecutors decided on second-degree assault charges, which means substantial bodily harm to another individual.

“This is what we have now,” said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in an Oct. 4 email. “The charging decision may be amended after we receive the official cause of death from the medical examiner’s report.”

The Sept. 10 report by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause and manner of death as pending. The Medical Examiner’s Office is currently investigating Harrison’s exact cause of death, according to police.

When officers arrived at James Street and Central Avenue after multiple 911 calls about the beating of a man, Harrison was being treated on the scene by Puget Sound Fire personnel. Harrison was unconscious and initially transported to Valley Medical Center in Renton. Because he was still unresponsive, he was then moved to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he underwent surgery, according to court documents. He died Sept. 8 in the hospital.

An officer noted that Harrison had cuts on his elbows, a bruised right eye socket and blood coming from his mouth. He also had a deep cut on the right side of his chin of about 2 inches in length.

Initial 911 calls and witness reports indicated as many as 20 juveniles at the scene of the incident, according to court documents. All the juveniles fled the scene before officers arrived.

Detectives interviewed witnesses and tracked down video surveillance from nearby businesses and the Kent Transit Center to narrow the list to three suspects.

A witness told police that three males approached Harrison and began kicking and punching him on his bike, according to charging documents. Harrison fell to the ground and the teens continued to punch and kick him. The witness took cellphone video of the incident.

Another witness drove her vehicle toward the teens in an attempt to get them to stop, which caused them to run away. The woman got out of her car and yelled at the boys.

One of them reportedly replied:

“I don’t care, he was messing with my mom,” according to charging documents.

Video surveillance tracked down by a detective showed another subject, as young as 8 to 10 years old, with the three older teens, but who didn’t appear to participate in the beating. The detective watched the video of the attack and described one kick by one of the teens to Harrison’s head with his right foot “as a soccer player would kick a soccer ball.”

As Harrison was lying motionless in the street, one of the teens appears to take a cellphone photo or video of the man before all four walked away, according to charging papers.

Detectives used video of the incident to create photos of the teens and distribute them to Kent Police personnel. A school resource officer recognized the two teens later charged with second-degree assault. Kent Police contract with the Kent School District to provide officers to Kentridge and Kent-Meridian.

A detective further researched the comment heard by a witness from one of the boys about Harrison “messing” with his mom. A query of law enforcement data bases showed that Harrison was in a relationship with the mother of one of the boys and that there were numerous documented domestic violence incidents between the woman and Harrison where police were called to respond.

During a Kent Police domestic violence incident earlier this year at an apartment complex, the mother and her son were listed as victims with Harrison as the suspect. A review of body-worm camera footage of the responding officers clearly showed the boy in the footage, according to charging documents.

A detective compared that image to cellphone video by a witness to the Aug. 22 beating and video surveillance to reportedly identify the boy as the third suspect in the attack against Harrison.