In what police described as a racially motivated attack, the 15-year-old white boy was accused of repeatedly pushing the Black teen – who was wearing a life jacket as he could not swim – underwater, calling him racial slurs and throwing stones.
A yell for help from a Black teen may have saved his life after a frightening incident in Chatham, Massachusetts last year that led to the arrests and charges of a racially-motivated attack for two white teens.
Now, 15-year-old John P. Sheeran has pleaded guilty to the July 2023 attack, when he was 14, per the Cape Cod Times.
He stood accused by prosecutors of forcing his unnamed victim into Goose Pond in Chatham on July 19, where he allegedly dunked his head under the water repeatedly while calling him the n-word and throwing stones at him.
The victim was wearing a life jacket during the attack, according to The Boston Globe, because he was unable to swim.
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Victim Speaks
The victim told police that he’d been invited to the pond by a friend and arrived on his older brother’s borrowed bike.
He claimed he told Sheeran and the other defendant not to touch the bike, which is when they began throwing rocks at him. According to authorities, he said he put on his life jacket and made his way into the water as they continued throwing rocks, threatening to beat him up, and calling him racial slurs like “boy” and the n-word.
The police report details Sheeran as swimming out to where the victim was and pulling him underwater four to five times by his lifejacket. The victim told police he started shouting for Sheeran to stop, telling him he couldn’t breathe.
At this, the victim wrote in his statement that other unnamed defendant “started laughing and called me George Floyd, obviously making fun of me and showing NO remorse.”
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According to the victim, Sheeran and the other boy then left him alone for about 15 minutes before they returned on a raft. The boy alleges that Sheeran again assaulted him in the water, this time pulling him under by his feet while the other boy laughed from the raft.
The police report details that the Black teen was able to call for help amid the attack, at which time another teen on the beach intervened and helped the victim back to the shore.
The good Samaritan told police in a written statement seen by NBC Boston that he heard the victim ask Sheeran “to please not splash or push him because of his inability to swim,” and that he saw both boys pushing the victim’s head under the water while he was “screaming for help.”
“When I finally got to them they were smirking,” the good Samaritan said in his statement.
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Sheeran Responds
The Globe reported that Sheeran’s attorney explained that the victim and the two defendants had been friends prior to the incident at the lake, calling the charges filed against Sheeran as “over the top.” He said it was a matter of horseplay that “got of out control, clearly.”
The white teen ultimately pleaded guilty to those charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, per the Cape Cod Times. He was charged as a “youthful offender,” which means that at his sentencing on February 5, the judge can sentence him either as a juvenile or as an adult.
Due to the “youthful offender” charge, Sheeran’s name has been made public throughout his case, despite being a minor, with a spokeswoman for Barnstable Juvenile Court telling the Times the severity of the charges was a factor in choosing to make his case public.
The second defendant in the case appears to be facing charges limited to harassing the Black teen during the assault. This white male’s name has remained redacted in court documents seen by the Times as he is being charged as a juvenile.
Sheeran’s sentencing is set for February 5.
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