Two additional arrests made in beating of teens
12th January 2018 · 0 Comments
The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office announced late last month that a second and third suspect have been arrested in connection with an altercation involving two Black teenagers who were beaten at a Christmas Eve bonfire event in Gramercy.
The mothers of the two teenagers told authorities, at least one newspaper and people on social media that the incident might have been racially motivated since the altercation occurred after a white teenage girl was seen interacting with the Black males.
WAFB News reported that Grady Gieger, 25, of Prairieville, was arrested Friday, Dec. 29. He is charged with second-degree battery. Dylan Recotta, 19, was also arrested Friday evening. He is charged with second-degree battery as well.
Jordan Hitt, 21, was arrested Thursday, Dec. 28, and is charged with aggravated second-degree battery.
While the two victims identified several of their white high school classmates who were involved in the fight, the first three suspects arrested in the case were not high school student
The incident involved two Black teenagers who were reportedly beaten by a group of men for talking to a white girl. The victims, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, both had to be transported to a local hospital to be treated for injuries they sustained in the incident. The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case.
The incident garnered a lot of attention after the mother of the 15-year-old victim took to Facebook about what happened. One of the victims admitted to asking one of the men involved if he wanted to fight, but says after he began to take off his jacket to fight, he was jumped and hit with a Crown Royal bottle.
La’Quesha Scott, the mother of 15-year-old Sam Scott, said that her son was beaten by a group of men after talking to a white girl at the event. She told WAFB that her son was released from the hospital Wednesday after receiving medical treatment for a knee injury and gave a statement to the sheriff’s office.
La’Quesha Scott took to Facebook after the incident, alleging that four or five men attacked the two teenagers. Because the annual Christmas Eve bonfire was packed with locals and visitors, there were potentially hundreds of witnesses who have yet to share what they saw with authorities.
Lahoma Dumas told WAFB that she was horrified on the night of Christmas Eve. Her son, Shannon Dumas Jr., was taken to the hospital after a brutal beating, but 17 stitches later, he’s doing fine. The teen said he still doesn’t understand why the fight ever started.
“A white girl started talking to one of my Black friends and they were running it with each other and she had a boyfriend and her boyfriend got mad,” Shannon Dumas explained.
From there, Shannon Dumas says the conversation escalated and more people gathered around.
“And I asked him if he wanted to fight and he said, ‘Yeah,’ so he was like yeah, so I took my jacket off and when I took my jacket off, somebody hit me with a bottle and I fell and they hit me again and I fell again and they started jumping me,” Shannon Dumas added.
He and his 15-year-old cousin, who was also injured, insist they did not throw the first punches. They say five or six white teenagers surrounded them and attacked.
“The dude’s friends ended up sneaking me from behind and they had pulled me by the hood of my jacket,” Sam Scott, 15, said.
Sam Scott has already been interviewed by police and given names of the boys he says were responsible, but the mothers said late last month that they felt like the case was not being taken seriously.
“Down here, to me, it’s like when you’re white, you’re right.”
“I feel like if they would have done that to them, they would have been in jail the same night.”
“To me, nothing is being done and it’s not right. They could have taken my son from me that night. All I want is justice.”
In their quest to apprehend all of the suspects in the incident and to gather information about what happened, the two victims’ families took to social media to ask the public for assistance. WAFB reported late last month that a post had already been shared over 1,000 times.
“I want to get people in jail for it,” said Sid Berthelot, deputy chief with the St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office. “Totally uncalled for, what happened. It’s a shame. We’re going to bring the people who did this to justice.”
The investigation is ongoing and authorities are encouraging anyone with more information to contact the St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office at (225) 562-2200.
On Wednesday, Jan. 3, La’Quesha Scott was joined in Convent, La. by community leaders, ministers and parents of the young men involved in the fight, Black and white, to meet for reconciliation after news of the event created a social media storm of allegations of racism from both sides.
St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin told The Advocate that he has not yet found any evidence to corroborate claims of the incident being racially motivated but added that the incident is still under investigation and there are still witnesses that have not yet been interviewed.
“There’s some anxiety out there in the community and among the youth,” Sheriff Martin told The Advocate.
“The coaches and faculty say, ‘We don’t see this (racial tensions) at the school,’” Martin said. “What happened on the levee is baffling them, too.”
“Some adults out there are feeding the flame, because they want to create tension,” Martin said. “They need to stop that.”
This article originally published in the January 08, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
