Thursday, June 18, 2009

Teen Sentenced for Dragging Boy in Noose

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — A central Ohio teenager accused of putting a noose around a Hispanic boy's neck and dragging him in a parking lot has been sentenced to 10 days in jail.

The 18-year-old was sentenced Wednesday in juvenile court in Mount Vernon, a city of 15,000 residents an hour's drive northeast of Columbus. He dropped his original plea of not guilty and pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation.

A charge of aggravated menacing was dropped.

Seventeen-year-old Robert Cantu says in May 2008 he was dragged from a sidewalk to a parking lot with the noose wrapped around his neck by a group of teenagers shouting racial slurs. He says the teens threatened to hang him before a bystander intervened.

His family says it plans to sue the city, dubbed the state's Most Livable Community in 1994.

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