Police Say 10-Year-Old Boys Attack Homeless Man

Friday, March 30th 2007, 10:35 am

By: News On 6

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ Two 10-year-old boys and an older teen were charged with beating a homeless man and smashing a concrete block into his face, leaving him bruised and bloody with broken bones.

The three, charged with aggravated battery, face a hearing next week to determine if they should remain in juvenile detention. At their first court appearance, the two younger boys were escorted from jail in oversized white jumpsuits, their hands chained in front of them and their legs in shackles.

From a hospital bed Thursday, John D'Amico, 57, a homeless man who worked as a day laborer, described what happened to him Tuesday night.

He had been walking with a friend through a Daytona Beach neighborhood just before 9 p.m. when the trio on bicycles started throwing sand and small rocks at them, D'Amico said.

The three boys then got off the bikes and the ``rocks got bigger,'' he said.

D'Amico said he fell into a wall, breaking it, after the oldest boy, who police say is 17, punched him in the face. One of the 10-year-olds then slammed a piece of the broken wall onto his face, he said.

``It happened so quickly and they were so small,'' D'Amico said.

A Department of Children & Families spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether the agency is investigating a lack of parental supervision in the case. No parents were in the courtroom during the boys' first appearance before a judge Wednesday. A police report shows the parents were notified of the arrests.

It was not immediately clear if the boys had attorneys would could comment. A message left with the public defenders office was not immediately returned Friday.