That is correct --
Even calling him the "suspect" -- what's the big deal??? He had just assaulted him and beat him within an inch of his life. What should he have called him -- the assailant???
He could have called him “Teenaged African American person who was taller than me, and who emerged from the darkness and attacked me”, but by the third time he wrote that he’d have gotten writer’s cramp. Anybody who ever watched a TV crime show or had any interaction with law enforcement would be aware of the use of “suspect”. It’s shorthand, used precisely to avoid the need for the jawbreaking recitation I cited above. In much the same way, BTW, as the state keeps using “victim” to described the deceased attacker.