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NAMPA, Idaho — Police say two minors have been arrested in connection with an incident that left a 15-year-old Nampa boy bloody and unconscious at City Acres Park.
The boy, Jason Cooley Jr., is recovering in a Boise hospital as the result of a severe beating allegedly perpetrated by the two other minor boys, the Idaho Press-Tribune reported.
The mother of Cooley called 911 on May 28 when she found her injured son near the intersection of Second Avenue and Fourth Street, said Nampa police Sgt. Tim Riha.
Riha said the two minors arrested in connection with the incident were found after police spoke to some of Cooley’s friends. The names, charging documents and custody statuses regarding the two minors accused of beating Cooley could not be obtained as juvenile criminal cases are sealed under Idaho law.
Canyon County Spokesman Joe Decker said Tuesday the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office would not comment on whether the two minors will be charged as adults. He said prosecutors would not comment on a pending case.
Cooley’s mother, Lisa Warren, told KIVI-TV she dropped her son off at a home near the park after he had received several phone calls. She said she had dropped her son off at the same home the previous day to speak to one of the two minors over a $30 debt.
Riha said that Cooley was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, and Warren told KIVI-TV that her son was treated for a broken nose and bleeding of the brain. She said he spent a week in intensive care and has since been moved to the neurological ward.
Warren wrote on her son’s GoFundMe page* that he was “stomped into a coma” and that she has taken a month’s leave from work to be with her son in the hospital. She wrote on the page that the swelling has gone down in Cooley’s face and that doctors have stopped the bleeding in his brain.
“He’s not able to stand up or walk without assistance. He can’t remember things two seconds after you tell him,” she wrote. “He doesn’t always recognize me or know who I am which is very difficult as a mother to have your child not know who you are.”
Cooley will spend “at least another three weeks” in the hospital, Warren wrote.
“Depending on how he’s doing at that point, we’ll know if he’s going to be able to go home or not and continue to get better,” she wrote. “They say that he has a good year of healing and different therapies ahead of him such as occupational, physical and speech.”
Warren could not be reached for comment.
All of the funds raised as part of Cooley’s GoFundMe will be applied to his medical bills, she wrote. As of Tuesday, about $2,000 of the fundraiser’s $7,000 goal has been donated.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
