Justice for Michael

Michael is a high school junior who is lives in Price Hill, Cincinnati OH. He loves skateboarding, photography, his rescue dog, and his family. 

On October 23, 2014 while skating home around 8pm, Michael was attacked by 8-12 young men less than a block from his home. This was the second attack in less than six months. He was taken down by two bigger guys, and then several of the younger, smaller boys punched him in the head, over and over. Thankfully, a police cruiser was nearby, and intervened quickly. The officer saved Michael, and caught two of the boys involved. 

At the ER, Michael was diagnosed with a broken nose, and a concussion. Several days later, the concussion was not healing, and it was recommended he see a specialist in nurological injuries, and traumatic brain injury. 

At this time, the extent of Michael's head injury is unknown as we wait for doctors to determine whether or not they will treat Michael, or if he will require care at an out of state hospital that offers a specialist who treats this injury in "children."

Additionally, we are dealing with the district attorney's office regarding the charges against these boys and how to proceed. We have found many of the other boys, but the police seem hesitant to arrest them or charge them. We have looked into hiring an attorney to help us facilitate a suit against their parents, but the cost is exhorbitant. 

Michael is dealing with daily, constant head pain. He has been having "thunderclap" headaches as well, and is suffering from severe PTSD on top of everything else. He takes medication to deal with the constant pain and anxiety and sleeplessness. The young men involved in his attack have begun to hang out near our home, and the police seem to be unable to stop them. We have taken to being very vigilant around here, and our dogs are a great help, but we are hoping to install a home security system soon. The system we're looking at will include panic keys for both of our children as well as the ability to lock and unlock our doors remotely. 

We have no idea how long Michael will require treatment for his PTSD but his insurance will expire on his birthday in May. (We receive state insurance as we make less than $40K annually) Obviously, he's our son and we'll do whatever we have to for him, but his care and treatment is already growing outside of what insurance will pay for. Additionally, Michael had hoped to join the Coast Guard, but with a head injury, that is likely not going to be in his future. He was to leave for basic after his birthday next year. 

 A hate crime is defined as;  a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”  

We believe, as does the officer who saved his life, that Michael was targeted because of his skin color.  We believe that what happened to him was indeed a hate crime. Whether or not the district attorney's office has the guts to charge these boys with a hate crime remains to be seen. 

In the meantime, we are trying to pick up the pieces of our life, while continuing to build into our community, as well as help our son recover from this violent attack.