Two teens arrested for throwing large rocks at cars in Palm City

Posted: 3:49 PM, Sep 03, 2016
Updated: 2016-09-10 04:00:40Z

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- Two 13-year-old boys were arrested Friday for throwing rocks at passing cars in Palm City along High Meadows Avenue.

WPTV is not identifying the teenagers unless they are charged as adults.

The teens are each facing five felony charges for battery and throwing a deadly missile.

Martin County detectives say at least five cars were hit by the rocks last weekend, and two people were injured.

Detectives assumed from the beginning the people throwing the rocks were young people playing a prank.

“This was above just a prank,” said Sheriff William Snyder. “What they did was extremely dangerous.”

Detectives say the boys rode their bikes to the Sunset Trace neighborhood to visit a friend.

They never made it to see their friend. Instead, detectives say the boys hid behind a fence, grabbed rocks from someone’s garden, and threw them at passing cars.

Witnesses in the area saw the boys eventually run away, but gave detectives a description.

Investigators thought to talk to students at Hidden Oaks Middle School since it was just around the corner from where the cars were damaged.

Students there recognized the suspect descriptions and pointed deputies in the right direction.

“They both broke down and cried when the detective explained that one of these rocks actually went through a windshield into a car that had a baby seat,” Snyder said.

Deputies also found a third teen who was with the other two before they started allegedly throwing the rocks.

Snyder says the third teenager knew what they were doing was wrong and left without throwing anything at the cars.

One of the victims, Eric Evans, was hit in the face with shattered glass. His wife says he had to go to the hospital several days later.

Injuries and damage were minor, but Snyder says it could have been much worse.

“They were able to hide behind the wall and pick up these rocks and really just throw them at the sound of a passing vehicle. They couldn’t even see who they were throwing it at.”

The teens could face several years in a detention center.

“It’s very hard to know what was going through their mind. I'm sure they knew right from wrong. There’s no way they could have thought this was the right behavior.”

The teens were booked into the Martin County Jail and will be taken to the juvenile detention center in Fort Pierce.