Crime & Courts

Father files lawsuit over filmed beating of Anchorage teen

The father of a teenage girl who was allegedly assaulted by several other girls who had been drinking has sued the owner of the South Anchorage home where he says the beating took place.

Anchorage police said Monday that reports about the assault have been sent to a state agency in charge of handling underage offenders.

The assault, first reported by news organization Your Alaska Link, was caught on video, which shows the girl being punched and kicked.

The Anchorage Police Department said Monday that it is aware of the "disturbing video." The assault was first reported to police on July 26 and investigators started looking into the incident that day. Police received the video of the assault two weeks after the first report, according to APD.

"This incident has been investigated and final reports are being sent to the Division of Juvenile Justice," police said.

Wayne Johnson, the father of the victim, filed a civil complaint against the mother of one of the girls he says took part in the attack. Johnson claims the mother owes him over $100,000 for medical expenses, diminished earning capacity and emotional distress.

The woman should have prevented her daughter and others in the garage from causing serious injury and severe emotional distress to the girl, Johnson's complaint says, but she didn't.

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The mother responded to the lawsuit on Nov. 17 through her attorney and said that Johnson's daughter wasn't a guest in the home and denied allowing the girls to drink. She also denied all other claims made by Johnson and said she isn't liable for monetary damages. Her attorneys listed a number of defenses in the response, including that the damages were caused by others and the "plaintiff's injuries, if any, are substantially less severe than alleged."

She did not respond to a call for comment Tuesday.

Johnson's attorney, Jeff Barber, said in a phone interview that the damages are greater than those claimed in the complaint.

"In her case, she's not even going to school anymore. Theoretically, she could need counseling and other assistance, and we don't yet know what the extent of her injuries are," Barber said.

"This was a serious incident," he said.

APD investigators were in contact with state prosecutors before sending the reports to DJJ, said spokeswoman Anita Shell. Juvenile Justice is the appropriate agency to handle the case given the suspects' ages, she said.

Police said they cannot release the names of the kids involved because they are juveniles.

The investigation took months due to the heavy caseload of the department's assault and robbery unit, Shell said, as well as APD's obligation to be thorough with every report.

"That means contacting everyone we could find who was at the party," she said. "It was one of many (cases) being reviewed on a daily basis."

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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