14-year-old facing charges in baseball bat attack of 15-year-old

ALIQUIPPA, Pa. — A 14-year-old has been charged as a juvenile in connection with an attack with a baseball bat Wednesday on a 15-year-old boy in Aliquippa, police said.

The incident happened near a park in the area of Griffith Street around 2:30 p.m.

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Police said they believe the 14-year-old hit his 15-year-old friend one time on the side of the head, and the impact knocked the teen out cold.

“We believe they got into a scuffle earlier and then it escalated,” Aliquippa police Sgt. Steve Roberts said.

A man told Channel 11's Pamela Osborne Wednesday that a relative of his saw two teens arguing before one of the teens got a baseball bat and hit the other on the head.

The man said his relative put the victim in her car and drove to him to get help because of his training as a first responder.

“He collapsed on the side of her car. We got him to sit down inside the car. From there, it was all downhill,” the man said. “He passed out. We stabilized his neck and called police.”

A helicopter airlifted the victim to UPMC Presbyterian.

According to a family member of the victim, the two teens knew each other and were playing basketball at the park when the boys got into an altercation. Police said the 14-year-old left briefly and came back with the aluminum baseball bat.

“He was in bad shape when he left here,” the witness said.

Channel 11 learned the victim was about to be adopted.

“Can everyone please pray for my family. My foster son was hit in the head with a bat. He is in surgery now because he's bleeding on the brain. He's a fighter he will be OK. I know he will,” the boy’s foster mother wrote on Facebook late Wednesday night.

Police said at last check, the victim was in the intensive care unit in an induced coma with bleeding on the brain.

Meanwhile, the 14-year-old’s grandfather, Melvin Reed, apologized for his grandson’s actions and said he’s praying for the victim.

“I am just so sorry this young boy is in a coma because of my grandson. Let's just pray that he recovers and is a normal boy again,” Reed said.

The 14-year-old has been arrested and placed in a juvenile facility.

WPXI