July 22, 2004

Teens arrested after friend burned

       Two Greenwood teenagers who initially told police that their friend accidentally caught fire have changed their stories two weeks after the incident occurred, the White River Township fire marshal said.  The boys likely will face criminal charges, according to Johnson County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Felix. The suspects, both 15, were arrested by White River Township Fire Marshal Eric Brown on Sunday and Monday for allegedly setting their friend on fire two weeks ago.

        The burn victim, Thomas Jefferson, also 15, remains in critical condition and is still in a medically induced coma that could last for another two weeks, Brown said.  Jefferson, a sophomore this fall at Center Grove High School, was at the home of one of the boys the evening of July 5 to set off fireworks.

        Brown said that after the boys were finished with the fireworks, the three came up with the idea to set Jefferson’s shirt on fire.  “They wanted to see what would happen,” Brown said. “Sometimes we only think of guns and knives as being weapons. But fire is also a deadly weapon.”   The result of the boys’ action proved nearly fatal, leaving Jefferson with third-degree burns on his head and chest, Brown said.  The mother and sister of one of the suspects were at the family’s home in the 4300 block of Mahogany Drive in Greenwood when the incident occurred. The sister heard screaming from outside the home, saw Jefferson ablaze and called 911 at 10:25 p.m., Brown said.  When Deputy Kerry Hamilton arrived at the home, Brown said, the boys told him they had been playing around with gasoline and that Jefferson’s shirt accidentally caught fire from an ignited firework.  But that account was revealed to be a fabrication a week later, Brown said.  When Brown returned to work from vacation July 12, he scanned Jefferson’s ambulance report, suspecting that the teenager’s severe burns were caused by something more than just fireworks.  His hunch led to a full investigation. After interviewing neighbors who lived near the incident, and the boys themselves, Brown said one of them confessed to setting Jefferson on fire.  Brown said that after the boys failed to set Jefferson’s shirt on fire with a cigarette lighter, the boys decided to pour gasoline on the shirt, mixing it with fire.  All three boys were willing participants in the act, Brown said.

        The suspects will also be sophomores at Center Grove in the fall. Brown arrested the boys on preliminary charges of arson, aggravated battery and criminal recklessness. They are now in home detention and are scheduled for an initial court hearing the second week of August, Felix said.  He said the county juvenile probation department is conducting an inquiry into the incident this week that will include interviews with the suspects.  The inquiry should be completed by the end of the week, Felix said. After that time, the county prosecutor’s office will decide whether to formally file charges.  Attempts to reach Jefferson’s family for comment were unsuccessful. (This article reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)
      

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