2 Teen-Agers Accused of Hitting Boy With Bat May Be Tried as Adults

The San Diego County district attorney’s office said Friday that it wants to try as adults two teen-agers accused of brutally hitting a 9-year-old boy on the back of the head with a baseball bat as he rode a bicycle.

The boys, 16 and 17, were being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and are expected to appear at a detention hearing Tuesday in Juvenile Court, said Steven J. Casey, special assistant to the district attorney. The hearing is similar to an arraignment in adult court.

Prosecutors will ask that the youths be bound over for trial as adults, Casey said. The 16-year-old, from Nestor, and the 17-year-old, from Chula Vista, are in custody at Juvenile Hall, San Diego police Lt. George Saldamando said.

Companion Turned Self In

Detectives with the Police Department’s gang detail arrested the pair Thursday, a day after the assault on Joshua Garrett. The arrests were made after another 16-year-old turned himself in to Chula Vista police. San Diego police were notified, and the informant gave detectives the identities of the other two, Saldamando said.

Joshua was riding his sister’s bicycle in the 1600 block of Hollister Street in South San Diego when he was struck on the head with a baseball bat by someone in a passing car. He was riding to a convenience store for candy, said his mother, Theresa Garrett.

Joshua was listed in fair condition Friday in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital, hospital spokesman Mark Morelli said. Physicians noticed improvement Friday in the boy’s motor skills and cognitive abilities.

“We’re all very pleased that he’s making progress this fast,” Morelli said. “He’s had cereal and ice cream. His doctors are guardedly optimistic of a favorable recovery.”

Joshua’s hospital room was filled with flowers and get-well cards. The community support for Joshua and family members has been overwhelming, his mother said.

“I just want to thank everybody,” Garrett said. Joshua is the second of her three children. The unemployed, single mother expressed concern about the hospital bills and said the attack has left her puzzled.

‘The Pain I Went Through’

“Why would they want to do that to somebody they don’t even know?” she asked, adding that she wants Joshua’s assailants to “feel the pain that I went through and what my little boy went through.”

She said she plans to meet with the parents of Jennifer Pratt, an Encinitas girl who was struck on the head with a board in April, 1987, by someone in a passing pickup truck. No arrests have been made in that attack.

“I have a happy ending to my story,” Garrett said. “But theirs isn’t over yet. I can really feel what they must have went through.”

Police first thought the attack on Joshua might have been gang-related because witnesses described his assailants as wearing matching blue bandannas and baseball caps. On Friday, police said there appeared to be no gang involvement.

Police alleged that the 17-year-old was seated in the passenger side of the car and struck Garrett as the vehicle slowly pulled up behind the boy in a “random, isolated attack.” A bat was found in the car.

“He just felt like hitting someone,” Saldamando said, who added that, although the youth was cooperating in the police investigation, detectives did not sense any remorse on his part. The identities of the youths are being withheld because they are minors.

The 17-year-old will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm, Casey said. The 16-year-old driver will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Both charges are felonies.