TEEN CHARGED AS AN ADULT
COPS: 1 TEEN FACES CHARGES AFTER ANOTHER IS RUN DOWN DURING CONFRONTATION:
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP » Initially charged as a juvenile, a 17-year-old Prospect Park youth is now charged as an adult in an incident caught on video and in which he reportedly confessed driving his Jeep into a group of teens — in the process running over a 15-year-old Ridley boy earlier this month.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said Wednesday that after reviewing the facts of the case, as well as the video, he authorized initial charges against Shawn W. George be upgraded to adult status. The teen had been in custody at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention facility in Lima pending an adjudication hearing, according to Whelan.
According to charging documents filed Wednesday by Ridley Township police, George said he was acting in self-defense and believed the 15-year-old was “grabbing for a gun” when the incident occurred in the parking lot of Ridley High School back on June 12.
Charges filed Wednesday against George, of the 500 block of Chester Pike, include two counts each of the following: Aggravated assault by vehicle; criminal attempted aggravated assault; criminal attempted simple assault; criminal attempted reckless endangering another person; criminal attempted harassment; criminal conspiracy to engaging in aggravated assault by vehicle, aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and reckless endangerment; possession of an instrument of crime.
George was preliminarily arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Vincent D. Gallagher Jr. late Wednesday afternoon and subsequently remanded to the county prison in lieu of posting bail, which was set at 10 percent of $50,000, according to online court records. A preliminary hearing is listed for Aug. 7 in Gallagher’s court.
Contacted Thursday, Brian Malloy, George’s attorney, had no comment.
George’s grandmother, Angela George, said there is much more to the incident than has been released by police, or discussed on social media.
“I want to tell what I know but I can’t at his time … the truth will set my grandson free,” Angela George said during a brief telephone interview Thursday. “He is not the monster that people are making him out to be.”
According to the probable cause affidavit submitted by Detective Lt. Charles A. Palo Jr. of the Ridley Township Police Department, officers responded to a Folsom residence for a harassment report about 8:51 p.m. on July 12. Officers were met by a juvenile victim and his father. They indicated that the juvenile “was being harassed by juveniles from Interboro High School,” and that the harassment was a repeat issue from a year ago.
The victim told police he was outside Ridley High School when some friends informed him that they had just been in a fight with an individual at Norwood Park. Within 10 minutes of that conversation, the victim told police, a green Jeep pulled into the parking lot. George was driving the Jeep, and among the two passengers with him was the individual who had been identified as being involved in the fight at Norwood Park. George and the individual involved in that fight are reportedly best friends.
George and the two other males exited the Jeep and attempted to beat up the victim, according to the affidavit.
“The victim ran toward his house (and) and he got to his street, Shawn George drove his Jeep at the victim,” the affidavit states. “The victim ran down the sidewalk and Shawn George drove up on the sidewalk after him.”
According to the affidavit, the three males in the Jeep then jumped out and “tried to fight the victim” as he fled into his house.
A short time later, at 9:09 p.m., township police were dispatched to Ridley High School for a large fight outside, and also a pedestrian being struck.
Officers arrived at the high school parking lot to see one large group of juveniles running toward Morton Avenue, and another large group running toward West Seventh Avenue. The officers made contact with juveniles who stated they were in the parking lot of the high school when they saw a “large group pushing and arguing, getting ready to fight.” The juveniles then saw a green Jeep Patriot circle the group and then speed up, “intentionally striking the group,” the affidavit states.
The juveniles said they saw a 15-year-old teen, whom they identified by name to police, “go under the vehicle as the Jeep Patriot continued to intentionally drive over him,” the affidavit states.
The juveniles told police that the Jeep and the group, including the 15-year-old teen, left the area.
One the juveniles told police that she captured the incident on video.
“Police viewed the video and you can see (the 15-yearold male) was intentionally struck by the Jeep Patriot and he was knocked under the Jeep Patriot, sustaining injuries,” the affidavit states. “The victim … was run over by both wheels of the Jeep on the right side of the vehicle.”
According to police, the 15-year-old victim was
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