Boy, 11, accused in two 'catch and wreck' assaults

An 11-year-old boy last night was being accused by police of attacking a woman and a man in separate assaults in Southwest Philadelphia as part of a vicious street game called "Catch and Wreck," police said.

The boy, whose name was not released, was arrested at his family's Southwest Philadelphia home around 6:30 p.m. and taken in handcuffs to the Southwest Detective Division to be processed, said Lt. John Walker.

He was charged with aggravated assault, attempted robbery and related offenses for the Friday night attack on Belinda Moore at Finnegan Playground at Grovers Avenue and 69th Street, Walker said.

Police said they planned to also charge him for the March 13 attack on Vincent Poppa, 73, who was attacked and robbed in the same area. Poppa suffered a heart attack and remains in the hospital.

Walker said the Poppa assault also was part of the game, in which children identified targets they believed to be homeless and beat and robbed them for fun. Neighborhood children described the game to police after the assault on Moore.

Police already have charged a 12-year-old girl as a result of the assault that occurred when Moore was walking home through the playground and was surrounded by a group of boys and girls.

Moore, who is not homeless, was punched and hit with sticks by the children.

Walker said police in other parts of the city have never heard of "Catch and Wreck."

"We're just hoping it's isolated and that [these arrests] will quickly bring it to a halt," he said.