Ohio teen badly beaten in group home fight

FAIRFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Police said today that a 16-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries after being body-slammed during a fight at a teen group home in southwest Ohio.

Richard St. John, the Fairfield Township police chief, said the boy was on life support in a hospital. He was hospitalized Monday night after staffers found him unconscious in his bedroom and having vomited about three hours after the fight.

A spokesman at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center said no information on the boy’s condition Thursday was available immediately.

“The 16-year-old’s head got the brunt of the force,” St. John said of the fight. He said the two boys were reportedly fighting over a flashlight.

St. John said a 17-year-old boy threw the youth to the floor during the fight. The older boy has been jailed on a charge of aggravated assault. Police had erroneously reported earlier that the injured 16-year-old died.

No names were released.