Bridge
Swick
Kooiman
Posted on 03/11/2003 12:25:39 PM PST by FourPeas
Brick toss 'a prank, almost,' teen says Tuesday, March 11, 2003By Ken Kolker
The first thought was to build a scarecrow, tie it up and drop it from a highway overpass in front of oncoming cars. Then, somebody came up with a simpler way to wile away an otherwise boring Friday night -- tossing bricks onto unsuspecting motorists. "We were raising mischief, I guess," said suspect Jack "Aaron" Swick, 16, of Alto, who surprised a packed courtroom on Monday when he took the witness stand during a preliminary hearing in 63rd District Court. "It was a prank, almost," he said. A short time later, a 4.37-pound brick covered with cobwebs crashed through the windshield of Vickie Prantle's Chevrolet Blazer just before she drove beneath the Int. 96-Morse Lake Avenue SE overpass. About the time Prantle was looking in her rear-view mirror and realizing her face was split open, Swick was rushing back to his friend's pickup. It was, as he put it, "a direct hit." Swick and his friend, Jeffrey Kooiman, 19, also of Alto, were ordered Monday to stand trial in Kent County Circuit Court. Each is charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and two counts of felonious assault. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison. The ruling by 63rd District Judge Sara Smolenski followed a five-hour preliminary hearing that included testimony from Swick and two other teens who accompanied the suspects that night. Swick testified Kooiman threw the brick that struck the car. "I was almost onto the overpass when I heard a thump," he said. Swick said he watched the car pull over, then dropped his brick onto the highway below before running. Prantle, 46, lost her right eye in the attack and is expected to undergo repeated plastic surgeries to repair her face. She spent last weekend in the hospital to treat an infection. Her husband, Bob Prantle, and daughter, Sarah, leaned on each other in the courtroom. Sarah Prantle, 20, was a passenger in the Blazer but wasn't hurt. Defense attorneys argued the teens shouldn't be tried on the charges because they never intended to hurt anybody. "Where's the intent?" said Kooiman's attorney, Karen Constantine. "I have seen none. I have heard none." Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Bramble disputed that. "Clearly this was more than mischief. They could have thrown the scarecrow; they could have thrown a snowball. They chose a brick." Smolenski agreed with the prosecutor. "It's clear both the defendants were very aware of what their actions could do," she said. John Koops, 19, a cousin of Swick and a friend of Kooiman, said the evening started out innocently as Kooiman and Swick worked on a truck. Later, they gathered at Koop's house, where a fourth teen, Glenn Gould, 19, loaded software onto a computer. Gould came up with the scarecrow idea, Koops said. Maybe they could throw it over the bridge, hang it or light it on fire, he said. "They had no money. There was nothing else to do," Koops said. "It was a terrible reason, but they were bored." It wasn't clear from testimony who suggested dropping bricks, but the group soon was headed to Kooiman's house, where a pile of old bricks lay next to the barn, Koops said. They loaded nine bricks into the bed of Kooiman's pickup, and the four teens sat side-by-side on the bench seat for the three-minute drive to the overpass, Koops said. The plan, according to testimony, was to drop the bricks onto semi-tractor trailers. They parked south of the overpass, but Koops and Gould stayed in the truck, according to testimony. "I thought, 'I'm not getting out. I'm not taking part in this,' " Koops testified. Sarah Prantle testified she and her mother had eaten at a restaurant and were driving east on Int. 96 to their Oakfield Township home when the windshield shattered. The brick struck her mother's face, bounced off her chest, then landed on the console. Her mother calmly pulled over to the shoulder, where they prayed for the strength to forgive and waited for an ambulance. Kooiman and Swick ran back to the truck, Koops said. They later went four-wheeling, some went shopping for shoes and watched movies later that night, according to testimony. They also returned to the scene, but were turned away by police blockades. "We wanted to see how big the accident was," Swick said. They spent the next 24 hours covering up -- dumping left-over bricks from Kooiman's house in Barry County, agreeing not to talk to anybody, planning to change tires on the truck so they wouldn't match tracks left in the snow, asking relatives to help with an alibi, according to testimony. "I promised 'em I wouldn't tell anybody what I knew, then I shook (Swick's) hand," Koops said. The cover-up failed when an acquaintance of the suspects tipped off police and later wore a transmitter during a conversation with Kooiman, said Kent County Sheriff's Detective Todd Self. Kooiman eventually led detectives to the pile of left-over bricks.
The Grand Rapids Press
Ms. Mills might also care to bone up on the story of Billy Ray Washington, another African-American, who was literally framed on a homicide rap to cover-up malfeasance by Bill Clinton's mother.-PJAs documented in The New Republic (Aug. 3, 1992), Washington's brush with Clinton style "civil rights" was harrowing. One day in 1983, Washington found himself the subject of racist taunts by a carload of white teens. He responded with a rock, which struck 17 year old Susie Deer in the face. But Deer's injuries were not serious and the hospital recommended only some minor plastic surgery.
Then why did Susie Deer end up dead? Nurse-anesthetist Virginia Dwire (later Kelly, Clinton's mother) had apparently botched the procedure on Deer.
A subsequent hospital investigation revealed that Dwire often indulged herself during her work by reading the racing form and filing her nails. After Susie Deer's death, Dwire's job was on the line.
Dwire was saved when Little Rock's Clinton-friendly medical examiner Dr. Fahmy Malak ruled Susie Deer's death a homicide. Investigators learned that Dwire had discussed the case with her son and that Malak had been made aware of the Clinton connection in Deer's death. Rather than implicate the governor's mother, Billy Ray Washington was charged with criminally negligent homicide and sent to jail for six months.
Speaking as a former Marine...PLEASE do not inflict these worthless pieces of used food on the US military. They need people who can be expected to understand the consequences of their actions. These guys don't meet that criterion.
Anybody else feel that it inappropriate to charachterize 19 year-olds as "teens?" Interestingly, the third accomplice was also 19. The 16 year-old dropped the brick.
1) Any chance somebody else dropped the brick & they put Swick up to it know that he was the only minor?
Because they were juveniles, the law was structured so that they'd be treated as juveniles & this was a little prank. Since then, and because of the lobbying of his family and others affected by juveniles who got little more than a slap on the wrist for serious crimes, the law's been made much tougher.
Yes...no intent to hurt anyone....sick bastards
They spent the next 24 hours covering up -- dumping left-over bricks from Kooiman's house in Barry County, agreeing not to talk to anybody, planning to change tires on the truck so they wouldn't match tracks left in the snow, asking relatives to help with an alibi, according to testimony.
Not intent to hurt anyone but hell of an effort to cover their asses. I hope th jury does its job.
Hopefully they will find their way into a Federal P.M.I.T.A. prison.
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