Prep student suspected of beating girl is hospitalized

A 17-year-old Harvard-Westlake student was hospitalized and receiving psychiatric treatment Wednesday after allegedly beating a female classmate with a hammer and trying to choke her while they were parked in a car near the private campus in Studio City.

Attorney Patrick Smith, who is representing the boy’s family, said the student returned to his Beverly Hills home immediately after the alleged assault, which occurred about 5 p.m. Monday. His mother was unaware of the alleged attack but became concerned by his behavior and checked him into a “secure facility,” Smith said.

Smith said he contacted the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday morning and said the family, described as distraught over the incident, was fully cooperating with the investigation.

“His family has very, very complicated feelings about this,” Smith said. “The girl may have saved this boy’s life and suffered greatly for it.”

The unidentified female student, 18, suffered a broken nose and leg. She was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

“I visited her today with a number of students, and she is recovering from her surgery and in good spirits,” said Harvard-Westlake President Thomas Hudnut.

Citing privacy concerns, Hudnut would not discuss the students or whether the boy had exhibited signs of impending trouble. The school held an assembly Tuesday morning and set up private rooms for students to talk to school counselors and psychologists. Parents have been kept abreast of events through e-mails.

Security at the upper school campus, which occupies 22 acres off Coldwater Canyon, was significantly ramped up Tuesday to reassure students.

“The LAPD’s North Hollywood branch were available throughout the day and had an on-campus presence, which we were grateful for,” Hudnut said. “As of the night before no one was certain where the young man was, and there were concerns in some people’s mind so we thought it better to err on the side of caution.”

The school, which has an extensive support system that includes chaplains, will not implement new policies, he said.

Harvard-Westlake is considered one of the most prestigious, rigorous college prep schools in the country. Annual tuition is almost $24,000, and the school boasts a roster of celebrity families and alumni such as Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, astronaut Sally Ride and actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Several sources on and off the campus described the alleged assailant as troubled and depressed. He also was said to be a loner, although Smith disputed that contention and said his client was a good student who had friends at school and off campus.

But the girl who was allegedly attacked suggested that the boy was suicidal, said Stephanie Kleinman, who came to the girl’s assistance outside her home on Van Noord Avenue, near the school.

Kleinman said she had been working in her upstairs office when she heard screams and saw a girl covered in blood running from a beige Jaguar parked under her window. A boy in jeans and a T-shirt got out and apparently ran after the girl, she said.

By the time Kleinman ran downstairs, the girl was lying on the pavement, and the boy had returned to the car and sped away. “She kept saying that he was going to kill himself, that she was afraid he was going to go back to school and commit suicide,” Kleinman said.

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