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Attackers are white supremacist skinheads
Details of brutal pipe assault emerge
Teenager clings to life as case laced with ethnic undertones grabs national notice
By MIKE GLENN and PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The brutalized teen was a popular student and high school football player in Spring once featured in a fashion layout in the school's yearbook.
Two older teens accused of attacking him were described by other youths as troublemakers and "skinheads."
In a case that's garnering national attention, a 16-year-old clings to life at Memorial Hermann Hospital while the other two are in the Harris County Jail — charged with aggravated sexual assault after prosecutors accused them of sodomizing him with a pipe because they think he tried to kiss a 12-year-old girl.
"How do you muster up that much hatred?" asked Carolyn Cook, the mother of one of the victim's friends.
The brutal night began about 11:30 p.m. Saturday when the 16-year-old went to a party at a home in the 21300 block of Glenbranch. Investigators don't know how many people were there but said the group included David Henry Tuck, 18, of the 3400 block of Nutwood, and Keith Robert Turner, 17, of the 21000 block of Star Grass.
Incensed at the teen because of the girl, Tuck and Turner dragged him in the back yard and began beating him, detectives said.
"They stomped his head with their boots," said Harris County Sheriff's Lt. John Denholm. "They stripped him naked and sodomized him with the PVC pipe used to hold up a patio umbrella."
Tuck then kicked the pipe, causing even further damage, prosecutors said at a Thursday morning hearing.
"I don't mean just a little bit," Harris County prosecutor Mike Trent told District Judge Michael McSpadden. "He kicked it in and shoved it so far in that he has caused major internal injuries and organ damage." Tuck wore steel-toed boots when he attacked the teen and kicked him in the head, Trent said.
The attackers slashed his chest with a knife and hurled ethnic slurs at the teen, who is Hispanic. Then they apparently tried to cover up the crime, authorities said. "They poured bleach on his body to destroy any evidence," Denholm said.
He was left for dead in the yard for 10 hours before help was called.
Steven Bullock saw his friend Thursday at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The teen was unconscious, his chest marked from the knife attack.
"I was standing next to his bed. He didn't look good," Bullock said. "It was worse than I expected."
He remains in extremely critical condition, prosecutors said, and may not survive.
The attack stunned students at Klein Collins High School, which the younger teen once attended before transferring.
"Everyone is praying and hoping that he gets better. He's a good friend," said David Cook, a former football teammate. "Nobody is going to be the same after this. It's all going to be different."
A Web profile of the teen on MySpace shows pictures of the smiling student with his friends. It lists his interests — not unlike those of others his age — such as Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady and favorite musicians. Outraged friends left messages, including one that read: "God is watching over you and he knows as well as i that you are too strong to let this overcome you. I hope to see you real soon."
Cook called his friend "a cool kid" who liked nothing better than cracking jokes with his buddies: "I don't see how that could happen to somebody I knew. He's a good friend of mine."
Cook said he has known Turner for several years and doesn't understand how he could have been involved in such an act.
"He was always one of my best friends. I never thought he could do something like this," Cook said.
Turner's alleged involvement in the attack also baffled Cook's mother.
"David Tuck is more well-known for having a rougher reputation," Carolyn Cook said. "(Turner) has a reputation of being more of a follower."
Bullock said he has heard Tuck use slurs.
The victim probably would not have gone to the party had he known the two also would be there, David Cook said.
"Everybody has heard about David (Tuck)," David Cook said. "Everybody knows him as a skinhead around here."
Cook said he has seen Nazi swastikas painted on the fence at Tuck's house. "It sounds like something you would see in a movie, but it's all real," he said.
Several people who live in Tuck's subdivision portrayed Tuck as a boy who had been violent and troubled since he was young and had long exhibited a fascination with neo-Nazis.
Jason Savage, 17, and Tommy Peterson, both Klein Collins sop res, said Tuck paraded around the subdivision with a flag of a swastika on Martin Luther King Day.
Richard Rogers, who lives next door to the family, answered his door Thursday night with a .357-caliber Magnum in his hand. He said he was carrying it because he was concerned that Tuck would be out on bail.
"The kid is a white supremacist," Rogers said.
More details about the attack surfaced Thursday as Tuck appeared in court to answer the aggravated sexual assault charge. Although his bail had been set at $20,000, McSpadden ordered him held without bail. Turner, also charged with aggravated sexual assault, is jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Prosecutors revealed that a third person, a juvenile, may have participated in the assault. That boy is being treated only as a witness and will not be charged, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors will not pursue the incident as a hate crime — because that would not enhance the first-degree felony charges or penalty possibilities — but said evidence of an ethnic motivation will be presented to jurors to consider if and when they weigh punishment, Trent said. Tuck and Turner are white.
The suspects admitted involvement in the attack, but "they're pointing fingers at each other as to who did what," Trent told the judge.
Defense attorney Chuck Hinton, appointed to represent Tuck, declined to comment. Trent said the charges will be upgraded to capital murder if the victim dies.
Family members of the teen, Tuck and Turner could not be reached for comment.
Bill Murphy, Zeke Minaya and Kimberly Stauffer contributed to this report
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Vermin like this are crawling all over East Texas.
see, that's what I'm talking about. It is perfectly normal. To even say the guy deserved a beating for it is moronic!
