Boy, 11, Charged With Impaling 12-Year-Old

Apr 24, 2007 1:25 am US/Eastern
Boy, 11, Charged With Impaling 12-Year-Old
Cops: Attacker Lodged Wooden Stick Into Student's Head
Tanya Rivero
Reporting





(CBS) NEW YORK A 12-year-old Brooklyn boy is clinging to life after being impaled in the head with a stick, and police have charged an 11-year-old with the vicious attack.

The victim, Stevenson Celius, was rushed to Kings County Hospital on Thursday evening when police say two inches of a wooden stick was lodged into his brain. His family says the attack happened when the boy went to the store to buy candy. The suspect, an 11-year-old classmate of his, demanded his change and when he refused, a chase ensued.

Stevenson made it as far as the vestibule of his building before the brutal attack occurred.

An NYPD surveillance camera on the corner of Fenimore Street was able to snap a good shot of the boys. Detectives were able to go to their school the next day and identify the suspect, who was still wearing the same clothes.

"They had to call in the fire department to saw a piece of the wood off from his head so they can put him in the CAT scan machine," said Guirlaine Celius, the victim's aunt.

Doctors say Stevenson is on life support after suffering a reaction from the attack similar to a massive stroke.

"He is likely not to be going home, he will be going straight to a nursing home," his aunt said.

Stevenson's father, Antoine Celius, is Haitian-born, but has been living in Brooklyn with his son for five years. He says the boy's mother and sister are still in Haiti and are devastated by the news, but he cannot get a visa to visit.

Neighbors say the boys were friends and call it a tragic accident, but in the meantime, the suspect is in police custody and is being charged as a juvenile with first-degree assault.

"We're just praying for some sort of a miracle," his aunt said.











(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)