Three Mastery Charter students plead guilty in attack

Three Mastery Charter students pleaded guilty Tuesday to an afternoon attack on a man in late July near Independence Hall.

The ninth- and 10th-grade students, whose names are not being published because of their ages, have been in juvenile custody since the July 29 assault that left the victim, 36, in the hospital for two days with a fractured jaw.

The students, who had been hanging around after summer-school classes, punched and kicked the man into a wrought-iron fence near Fourth and Walnut Streets.

After being informed by police that their students could be involved, Mastery officials went door-to-door in the neighborhood and obtained security footage of the attack. They then identified and got statements from the students, who with their families turned themselves in to police.

The teens will be under the court's supervision for four years or until they are 21. At a hearing scheduled for this month, Family Court Judge Kevin Dougherty will decide whether to place them in residential schools, treatment facilities, or secure juvenile detention centers.

Prosecutor Leslie Gomez began the hearing with newly obtained security footage of the attack.

About 2 p.m., Tim McCoy was walking south on Fourth when the group of six students approached him.

The teens had been talking about punching the next person they saw, said Gomez.

The video shows McCoy trying to move out of the way, but one of the students, a 15-year-old, punches him in his jaw. Two others, 15 and 16, join in, punching McCoy as he struggles to stay on his feet and run.

"I did not want to be like that man who died on the concourse a few years ago," McCoy told investigators, referring to Sean Patrick Conroy, 36, a coffee store manager who was beaten on a City Hall subway platform in 2008 by teens acting on a dare.

McCoy's jaw is still wired shut, Gomez said. He has had one tooth removed and expects to have two more extracted. He has been eating through a straw and has lost 15 pounds. He did not have health insurance at the time and faces more surgery.

After the assault, one of the teens bragged about the incident on Facebook, referring to how he "recked an old head."

McCoy, addressing the court, said the assault "has impacted my life in other ways," explaining that he had lost his job before the attack and has since missed out on other work opportunities.

All three apologized to McCoy in court, and family members testified on their behalf, stressing their strong family support and education.

"You talk about wishing you could take those few moments back," Dougherty said, "but none of you went back to help that day. You engaged in laughter and went on with your day while another human being was in the hospital, enduring pain.

"I must believe there is something in your heart," the judge continued. "I just haven't seen it yet, and until I do, you will not walk the streets of Philadelphia."

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