Three Dieruff High School students now face trial on charges in connection with an after-school melee involving 20 students that left two teens hospitalized.
Twelve arrests were made and four of the teens have been charged as adults — one 17-year-old and three 18-year-olds.
Seven of the juveniles have been adjudicated in their cases in juvenile court, and are in the process of being sentenced, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office is still trying to have charges against one juvenile defendant sent to adult court.
On Wednesday, preliminary hearings were slated for Exzavier Raysaun Scales, 17; Isaiah Alarcon, 18; Joushten Rodriguez, 18; and Brian Pearsall, 18.
All four face aggravated assault and related charges. Scales, who is being held in county jail on $150,000 bail, is accused of being one of two armed teens involved in the attack.
Scales, Alarcon and Rodriguez all waived their hearings, sending the charges to Lehigh County court for possible trial.
Pearsall, of the 500 block of Sixth Street in Whitehall Township, had his hearing rescheduled for a later date.
Alarcon and Pearsall were each free after posting $25,000 bail, and Rodriguez had his bail lowered Wednesday morning.
Scales’ attorney, Richard Roberts Jr., said there have been plea negotiations with the district attorney’s office, but would not divulge the details. Scales is a senior a Dieruff and is scheduled to graduate next year; Roberts said the teen is taking classes while in jail to stay on track.
“He’s making the best use of his time,” Roberts said.
Javien Sabater, 15, the other allegedly armed teen, was initially charged as an adult, but his case was eventually sent back to juvenile court. He is due in juvenile court Thursday afternoon.
Asked if Scales would try to have his case decertified and sent to juvenile court, Roberts said he would wait until after the teen’s formal arraignment to make a decision, so he could see all of the evidence.
Roberts said he has viewed one of the videos of the melee.
Authorities said a female Dieruff student was being mistreated during lunch on Tuesday, and two 16-year-old boys stood up for her. That led to a confrontation, and the two sides planned to meet after school to fight, according to police.
The two 16-year-olds were met by a group of 50 students at North Kearney and East Washington streets, and the victims were assaulted by at least 20 people in the crowd, police said.
The boys were repeatedly punched and kicked, including after they feel to the ground, prosecutors said.
One victim reported being punched in the head and body by the mob, pistol-whipped with a gun, and kicked in the head and face after falling to the ground, according to police. This victim had a front tooth knocked out and lost consciousness during the assault, and was taken to St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill by ambulance for treatment, police said.
The second victim said he was also pistol-whipped on the neck, and his next memory was waking up in the hospital, according to investigators.
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