By Patrick Phillips | September 17, 2020 at 12:23 PM EDT - Updated September 17 at 7:15 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A judge issued custody orders Thursday for two juveniles identified as suspects in the attack of Charleston freelance journalist Quintin Washington.
Washington told police he was in the area of South Market Street Tuesday afternoon when two boys, identified in a Charleston Police incident report as “Rose Kids,” were riding bicycles and began to harass him and curse at him. One of the two juveniles, who was wearing a tie-dye shirt, rode up to him and knocked his phone out of his hand. The boys also yelling at him, throwing rocks and eventually physically attacked Washington, police say.
A portion of the incident was recorded on camera by Washington, police say. A witness also recorded video of the incident, the report states.
Charleston Police Inspector Karen Nix said police sent images from the video to school resource officers and the investigators received information about the boys' identities.
The boys, whose names are not being released because of their age, are 13 and 14 years old and will be charged with a misdemeanor of third-degree assault by mob, Nix said.
Police are actively searching for the whereabouts of the two juveniles, she said.
Nix said it was an isolated incident that was “thoroughly and quickly investigated.”
Freelance journalist Quintin Washington, shown here from a 2015 interview, released a statement on an attack that happened Tuesday afternoon in downtown Charleston. (Source: Live 5/File)
Washington, who hosts YouTube series “Quintin’s Closeups” with interviews of state lawmakers and other notable people, released this statement on the incident Thursday morning:
I was talking with a friend on the Bluetooth at King and Market, saw the 2 kids and mentioned to the friend about how the kids ought to be in school and one of them heard it as they rode by.
They began following me, on their bikes down Market Street, towards the Market, hurdling negative words at me.
At the point, I began filming what they were doing and that’s when one of the rose kids knocked my iPhone out of my hands at North Market at Church streets.
As I was headed to work on North Market Street, and they were right near me on their bicycles, they found rocks near an alley and hurdled those towards me as they rode through the alley.
It got worse- they physically fought me on the lot of the former Molly Darcy restaurant.
That’s when several people intervened and stopped one of the kids from further assaulting to me.
That’s my story.
And the police report at the end is right: I didn’t need any medical attention.
Charleston Police said Wednesday afternoon they identified the two juveniles involved in the incident and said they anticipated going before family court for pick-up orders and to have the two boys detained.
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