As Sarah Kreager sat in a hospital suffering from broken facial bones, the middle school girls charged in her beating on an MTA bus were “loud and playful” in their jail cell ? demonstrating kicking and punching motions, an officer testified Tuesday.
“I don?t know if they were re-enacting what happened,” said Tameka Gooden, a Baltimore police officer stationed at the Juvenile Justice Center. “They were kicking and doing punching motions. … They were loud and playing around.”
Gooden, the last witness for the prosecution, testified Tuesday in the second week of the assault trial against five Robert Poole Middle School students charged with beating Kreager, 26, her boyfriend, Troy Ennis, 30, and the No. 27 bus driver as more than 40 students rode home from school Dec. 4.
Kreager sustained two broken facial bones during the beating, which started on the bus and spilled out into a street gutter at Chestnut Avenue and 33rd Street.
Kreager testified the altercation started after one middle school girl refused to let her sit down on the bus.
After Gooden finished her testimony, all five defense attorneys made motions to acquit their clients of all charges, arguing prosecutors failed to prove a case against any of the students.
“There is evidence that Mr. Ennis and Ms. Kreager started the fight,” defense attorney Donald Wright said.
Juvenile Judge David Young said he will rule on the motions when the trial resumes Thursday morning.
Of the nine students initially charged in the beating, prosecutors have dropped three of their cases but secured one conviction.
One 14-year-old girl pleaded “involved” ? the juvenile equivalent to guilty ? to misdemeanor assault after admitting to striking Kreager one time.
