A 14-year-old white Massachusetts lad is facing serious charges after allegedly attempting to drown a Black teen while calling him racial slurs and “George Floyd” July 19.
According to a press release from the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s office, John Sheeran was indicted on attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon charges after the attack. The incident occurred at the Goose Pond in Chatham on July 19. Sheeran, another white juvenile male and the Black victim met at Goose Pond. The victim explained to investigators that, upon arrival, Sheeran picked up a stone, threatened him and called him a nigger.
Before entering the water, the victim placed on his life jacket, telling the other two that he couldn’t swim. While in the pond, Sheeran began pulling on the Black boy’s life vest, submerging him in the water while Sheeran’s bystander buddy laughed and called the Black teen “George Floyd.” The victim said Sheeran doused him about four to five times, and he struggled to breathe.
“Water got into my mouth and nose, and I could not breathe.”
Sheeran allegedly swam below the teen victim and attempted to pull his legs down and drag him underwater. The unnamed teen screamed for help, catching the attention of a bystander, who grabbed the victim out of the water and onto the shore.
The youth who saved the victim recalled hearing the boy pleading for Sheeran not to “splash or push him because of his inability to swim” and seeing the indicted defendant “pushing his head on the water” as the victim screamed for help.
“When I finally get to them, they were smirking,” the rescuer wrote in the police report.
The Black teen remembered as he got out of the bond, Sheeran continued hurling racial slurs and rocks at him.
Sheeran’s name wasn’t redacted from the report like the victim and others involved because the state has a “Youthful Offender” statute that enables prosecutors to seek the maximum adult sentence for the juvenile aged 14 to 17 under certain circumstances: charged with a felony and accused of inflicting or threatening bodily injury, a committed firearms offense or previously committed to the Department Youth Services.
Those prosecuted under the youthful offender statute have their records open to the public.
Prosecutors requested Sheeran be held without bond until Monday’s pretrial conference, but the judge decided to release him to his father’s custody but require him to wear a GPS monitor. The 14-year-old boy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, called his client’s actions “horseplay” and claimed Sheeran’s charges were “over the top.”
“They were in the water horseplaying, and it got out of control, clearly,” Reddington said. “I understand the basis of the judge’s decision, and we are appealing to the Superior Court and hoping to get him back in school.”
