19-year-old admits on TV to beating ranger, gets locked up
Police sources say the Pottstown man will be charged with assault for roughing up the ranger in LOVE Park on Friday.
THE CELLPHONE video allegedly showing Curtis Tanner beating a park ranger in LOVE Park on Friday - and Tanner's subsequent admission to the beating on television news - prompted his mother to turn him in yesterday, a police source said.
After the video surfaced Saturday on YouTube - showing a man whom police have identified as Tanner, 19, repeatedly punching and kicking a 35-year-old park ranger who had asked him and his friends to stop skateboarding in the park - Philadelphia detectives yesterday went to Tanner's Pottstown home, the source said.
At first, Tanner wasn't there. But when he arrived at home, his mother called police back to the house, where they arrested him, the source said. He is expected to be charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and terroristic threats.
Police said they also arrested a juvenile from Pottstown who is seen in the YouTube video hurling slurs at the park ranger as his comrade beats the man. That teen is expected to face similar charges, but had not been not formally charged last night.
The ranger does not fight back in the video. He was hospitalized for head injuries, according to police. He is expected to recover.
Tanner on Sunday night admitted to the beating in an on-camera interview with 6ABC reporter Annie McCormick, telling her: "If I had the chance, I would apologize to that guy. I lost my cool."