POLK CITY, Fla. (AP) — Four teenagers have been accused of running over a woman with a van in Florida after assaulting her son in the family’s home.
Responding deputies found the injured woman Monday afternoon outside the house in Polk City, where she had tried to take images of the van by her home, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. She was transported to a hospital and remains in critical condition.
“This was a coordinated, planned attack, carried out by a group of teens who beat up a teen then ran over his mother, leaving her for dead. I can’t even fathom teenagers doing something so heinous,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in the statement.
The four teens, now charged with attempted murder and burglary with assault, had come to the house to “handle” an ongoing dispute with the boy in the home, deputies said. One stayed in the van while the three banged on the door; Elijah Stansell, 18, then attacked the boy, the statement said.
Authorities said the suspects ran to the van, which was parked across the street, when the victim’s mother came home. She followed behind them and was taking photos of their van on the roadway when Stansell, who was driving the van, ran over her and they fled the scene.
There were several eyewitnesses to the crime, along with home surveillance videos showing the attack and the van running over the victim’s mother, the statement said. Stansell and the others — ages 16, 15 and 14 — also allegedly admitted to going to the home to confront the victim and being in the van. Stansell, 18, faces additional charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a minor who is 15 years old.
It was not immediately clear if the teens have lawyers to comment in their defense.
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