PAYSON, Utah — The teen who police say beat a man with a sledgehammer last month in Payson before assaulting other adults and multiple children at a nearby home daycare has been charged in court.
According to FOX 13's content-sharing partners at The Salt Lake Tribune, the 17-year-old, whose name has not been released, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies; and 12 counts of aggravated assault, third-degree felonies. He is being held in juvenile detention.
According to court documents obtained by the Tribune, 41-year-old Benjamin Partridge was working in the driveway of his home when the teenager picked up a sledgehammer and began beating him with it. According to a probable cause statement, security video shows the suspect hit Partridge twice with the sledgehammer, knocking him down, then “raised the sledgehammer above his head” and hit Partridge 11 more times.
Partridge suffered a fractured skull, brain bleeding, a fractured pelvis, a lacerated spleen and a collapsed lung, according to a probable cause statement, and is “in a coma and not expected to recover.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for impending and mounting medical costs.
After beating Partridge with the hammer, police say a neighbor yelled at him to stop, and he then turned his attention to her, assaulting her and others, including several children at the daycare she ran out of her home. The teen reportedly did not use the hammer on any of the other victims, instead punching and kicking them.
