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Sunday, April 23, 1989
DAILY NEWS
HORROR IN CENTRAL PARK
Kids' song
makes few
hearts sing
thumb out of my mouth."
The story, like all trage-
dies, has a beginning, middle
and end. Kids gathered on a
warm, moonlit evening, filled
watched their son being with the wanton power of
youth. They are not special
wearing a white sweat- because they rushed into a
park 30 strong. What makes
them important is their weak-
ness, the strength they gath-
tion Guardians. Dare to be ered while losing center. We
black." The shirt is ali the saw the same ignorant frenzy
MCALARY FROM P. 3
their son suffieiently scared.
Early yesterday, they
marched off to jail. He was
shirtwith red and black let-
tering. The shirt, given to him
by his parents, read: "Correc-
BILL LAFORCE J. DAILY NEWS
YOUNG SUSPECTS: Clarence
Thomas, 14, (left) and Steve
Lopez, 15, in photo above, are
taken from 24th Precinct to
central booking at Police
Headquarters after arrest in the
Central Park assault. At right, 17.
vear-old Michael Briscoe is led
away by a cop.
help that Robinson's parents
can afford him now.
in Howard Beach.
It's funny what the kids re-
Robinson's mother got the membered. They recalled, for
example, seeing a police van
at around 9 p.m. and of being
scared. They hit the ground
confess to robbery and then like commandos, they said,
stood up. The kid also stood burying their faces in the dirt
until the danger passed.
Frightened, they split up into
smaller groups of 10 or so.
tective's sedan about 3:30 The ferocity of the attacks in-
creased until they found a
woman running alone. They
left her with her legs in a
puddle, the water sapping
chance to facé her son in an
interview room early yester-
day. She listened to her son
up. Then the mother took a
wild punch at the kid.
Robinson was led to a de-
yesterday morning, his head
held high, a curse on his lips.
"Ain't about nothing," Rob-
inson muttered.
Like three of the other sus-
pects, Kharey Wise, 16, lives
at the Schomburg Plaza on E.
110th St. off Frawley Circle.
He is a very stylish fellow
with a fade haireut dyed a
reddish blond. He was wear-
ing a leather medallion with
two crossed silver rifles when
MORMAN Y. LONO DAILY NEWS
Rape a laughing matter
her body heat.
Robinson Junior High in the rape - Richardson,
School, was the one Santana, Lopez and Thomas
scratched by the rape victim. - also were charged with at-
"I know he had seratches tacking a 40-year-old male
on his face, and mud, but I jogger with a pipe in the park
still can't see it," neighbor that night. A ninth youth, Jer-
Lamont Radcliffe said of maine Robinson, 15, of E.
In due course, the suspects
gave each other up, one con-
fession leading to another. As
each new name was men-
tioned, a new set of detec-
tives was dispatched to bring
in another suspect. The kids
gathered in the back of the
the police arrested him. Wise cell, growing strong again in
JOGGER FROM PAGE 3
arraignment on attempted
murder, rape and assault
charges in the attack, which
culminated a rampage in
which nearly three dozen Richardson. "If anything, 116th St., was charged with
youths roamed Central Park
"wilding" - randomly attack-
ing anyone they found.
"It was something to do. It
was fun," one of the boys said
of the rampage in his state- though McCray and Richard- must be sentenced as juve-
ment to police, according to
the source.
is one of the few suspects old numbers.
these kids were victims of eir- assaulting and robbing a
eumstance."
McCray's aunt, Theresa charged in the rape.
Sapp, said, "I don't believe
he did it." She said that al-
enough to have a steady girl- "S'up?" the suspeet
friend. The girl was sitting McCray asked each newcom-
with detectives, sucking her er, using the street form of
the question "What's up?"
The cops looked hard at
them and the kids laughed.
one not daring to show weak-
ness in front of another. This
is why they wound up in such
homeless man. He was not
The suspects will be tried
as adults, but those under 16
son reportedly reenacted the niles if convicted. A juvenile,
attack for police, she be- convicted of rape or attempt-
lieved he was "describing ed murder would face a max-
what he's seen. It's not that imum of 3% to 10 years, com-
he took part in it."
Four of the teens charged adult.
thumb in the squad room.
"How old are you?" a cop
asked.
"Seventeen."
"And you still suck your
thumb?"
The eight suspects arrested
in the rape were identified as
Antron McCray, 15, of W.
111th St.; Michael Briseoe,
17. of Madison Ave.; Ray-
mond Santana, 14, of E. 119th
St: Clarence Thomas, 14, of
W. 112th St., and Yusef Sa-
laam, 15; Kevin Richardson,
14; Kharey Wise, 16, and
Steve Lopez, 15, all of the
Schomburg Plaza Houses on
Fifth Ave.
"Uh-huh. Wise don't like it trouble. Each suspected rap-
none. He always pulling the ist posed for a color Polaroid
snapshot. The poses are un-
repentant, the stares hard
pared to 8% to 25 for an
and unrelenting.
Eventually, between the
jokes and singing, a demand
was made.
"Yo," McCray had an-
nounced. "I'm hungry.
Neighbors shocked
Neighbors of the suspects
from Schomburg Plaza ex-
pressed shock at the arrests.
"These are all nice kids,"
said Gina Smith, a member of
the residents' council. "Kevin
is a nice kid who can barely
say hello without smiling. We
don't have a lot of bad kids
here."
She said suspect Yusef Sa-
laam is "an artist, he models.
He's into music. He's into
fashjon. We're ail shocked by
This, at least, showed some
need. The kids were given
sandwiches from Blimpie's,
quickly devoured. They
wiped their mouths cleanly
with crisp yellow napkins.
Mothers came and went car-
rying in fresh clothes for pris-
on. Finally, after the white le-
gal pads had been filled with
confessions, the videotapes
removed, the second-floor
cell grew oddly quiet.
A cop looked in and was
surprised to see the kids
sleeping. A few of them
jerked fitfully in sleep, guilt
working hard on the body.
Kevin Richardson, 14, another of The cop was glad to see this.
"Look," he recalled saying
to a detective. "Humans
NORMAN Y. LONO DAILY NEWS
IN CAPTIVITY:
15, in photo at left, at 24th
Precinct on W. 100th St. Above.
Steve Lopez,
this.
Police sources said Rich-
ardson, a student at Jackie
eight suspects being charged in
the rape attack.
CLARENCE DAVIS DAILY NEWS.
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