Thugs Beat Up Kids, Steal Laptop In Miami's Hadley Park
MIAMI (CBS4) - Several Miami police officers have stepped up to help a Miami brother and sister were who brutally attacked and robbed while walking through a park.
The seventh graders, who are on their school's honor roll, regularly walk across Charles Hadley Park on NW 12th Avenue to a neighborhood center to print out their homework. On March 31st, their way home became very dangerous.
"When we were leaving (the neighborhood center) we saw two guys coming from around the corner, one of them ran from the back of her and grabbed her book bag," recalled 13-year old Joshua Strachan.
Joshua's sister, 14-year old Grace, said she was carrying a couple of books and had her laptop in the book bag. Grace said the man who attacked her was in his 20s and they grappled over the bag which contained her laptop. The second male, described as being in his late teens, then joined the first man in punching and kicking Grace and Joshua. Investigators say the Grace's face was punched so hard, that oral surgery was later required to save some of her front teeth. But she wouldn't give up her back pack.
"Oh I was just trying to get the computer to keep my homework," said Grace. "Education is more important because I really want to be somewhere in life."
Police said as Grace fell to the ground, struggling all the way, the older of the attackers kicked her in the head.
"I thought 'Oh my God, oh my God, I was gonna die', I had no idea what was going happen. It was just really scary, I tried to help her, I was trying to act brave but eventually God was there so we're okay," said Joshua.
After stealing the teen's laptop, the two males took off. Grace and her brother made it home to their mother and she called police.
When Miami police Crime Scene investigators Sheila Carter and Ralph Garcia learned of the incident they were heartbroken.
"You see heinous crimes everyday but something touched you about this particular case. Things about children always touch me. I'm a mother myself and, you know, just to have these children brutally beaten like that, that wasn't right, it wasn't right," said Garcia.
The CSI tech reached out to a dentist who donated his services to save and fix Grace's teeth. Carter, Garcia and public information officer Delrish Moss all pitched in and bought the children two new laptops and a printer.
The attack on Grace and Joshua was the second violent attack to happen in the park in the last couple of weeks.
Last Sunday, April 17th, Michael Jones was shot during a robbery in the park around 8:30 p.m.
Jones, who is a security guard, was walking to work across the park's field when a man approached him and demanded his cell phone. When Jones refused, the man pulled out a shotgun and shot him point-blank in the stomach.
Jones, the father of a seven month old daughter, was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he continues to recover.
Anyone with information on the attacks on the Strachans or Jones is asked to call the Miami police department's Robbery Unit at (305) 603-6370 or Crime Stoppers (305) 471-TIPS (4877).
