A pack of drunken teenagers savagely beat another boy at a graduation party because the victim wasn't popular and didn't go to their school, according to court records.
Now, more than two years after the attack involving fists, feet, rocks and possibly brass knuckles, five of the assailants need to pay for the assault that one Alaska state trooper called the worst he's ever seen.
A judge has ordered the five to pay the victim $100,000 each in damages as a result of a civil suit filed by Liam Riedel, now 20, who wound up hospitalized with a broken jaw, loosened teeth and other injuries.
"It certainly turned into a mob to turn on someone who was smaller and incapacitated," said Thomas van Flein, Riedel's attorney. "I'm hoping these people wouldn't do this stone-cold sober."
Five of the attackers named in the suit never bothered to answer the civil claims, and Superior Court Judge Peter A. Michalski issued default judgments against them Aug. 31.
The sixth, Christopher Ling, now 20, is fighting the accusations and appears on track for a jury trial. His attorney did not return several calls seeking comment.
The incident took place on June 3, 2005, when a large group of teenagers met at a spot near Chickaloon at Kings River for a graduation party. Riedel, then a Service High student, said in a recent interview that it's an annual tradition for recent West High graduates to drive out to the gravel bar along the river and party the night away unsupervised.
"That's why they go out there," he said. "It's so far away that they can get away with anything. They could have killed me and no one would ever know."
Most of the kids went to West High, Riedel said, including one of his best friends who invited him.
Alaska state trooper Kevin Baker, who investigated the assault, said he figures there were about 100 young people at the party.
At the time, Riedel had long hair and dressed mostly in black -- the style of metal heads and Goths. Most of the others dressed more preppy, Riedel said, and they didn't seem to take kindly to him. "Everyone was kind of giving me the evil eye."
Riedel said throughout the night he heard sideways remarks about his appearance and the fact that he didn't go to West.
There was a lot of drinking going on by just about everyone, Riedel said, including himself. He managed to polish off more than a half bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila before the attack, a move that cost him his ability to defend himself, he said.
"I was just keeping pretty much to myself," he said. "I guess they'd been planning this for quite a while. There were kids in the woods waiting for this to happen. They wanted to fight, and they waited for the drunk, weird kid."
According to civil and criminal court records, trouble erupted when Daniel Bell, now 20, approached Riedel near his car and began talking a "horrendous amount" of trash.
Riedel's friends tried to intervene, but they too were assaulted. One wound up with a broken nose for his efforts.
The attacking group, which was larger than just the six who were later charged, Riedel said, began punching and kicking him on his head and body. When he tried to get up and escape, he was knocked back down.
The attackers grabbed rocks and began to pelt him with them. Brass knuckles may have been used in the fray. According to court records, Kris Gratrix, now 21, likely used such a weapon during the attack.
Before Riedel was able to crawl into his car, somebody took a large rock and smashed it into his head, breaking his jaw in two places.
He eventually got into his car. But the attackers broke open his driver's side window and pulled open the passenger door, continuing to pummel him as they tried to drag him back outside.
"I remember being very frustrated that I couldn't get the key into my car with being as drunk as I was," Riedel said.
When he finally got the car started and moved away from the onslaught, he met up with his friends and the sober ones drove to the hospital. There, doctors found Riedel covered in blood and vomiting, with loosened teeth in addition to the fractures of his jaw.
CARRYING FIRST AID KIT
During the six weeks he had his jaw wired shut, Riedel said, he had to carry around a first aid kit that included a scalpel so that he could cut the bands off in case he vomited, and he lived on a liquid diet, which cost him about 30 pounds.
"It was the worst assault I had ever seen, and it's been the worst ever since," Baker said.
The investigation was difficult, as was the prosecution, he said, because there was little evidence and he had to piece the case together from what he got after the incident was finished.
Riedel is now working as a day laborer and says the money from the civil suit judgment would come in useful, if he actually sees any of it.
"Most of the defendants don't have any money, so chances are slim that Liam is going to see any," van Flein said.
But he and Riedel agree the civil case wasn't about the money. It was about making the point that there are consequences to one's actions and that these boys -- some of whom have already amassed lengthy court records -- need to pay for them.
The other three defendants in the case are identified in court documents as Jeff Harrison, 21; Michael Harrison, 22; and Evan Roland, 21.
All six of the now-ex high school students were convicted of misdemeanor assault in separate criminal cases. Their no-contest pleas were the result of a deal with the prosecution that dropped the original felony charges of one count of assault in the first degree and two counts of second-degree assault each.
Those charges were hard to make stick, said assistant district attorney Richard Payne of Palmer, because few from the West High party were willing to talk and fewer still were sober.
"It was just a huge melee, and Liam got the brunt of it," he said.
Attorneys for several of the defendants either refused to comment or didn't return calls. But Bell's attorney, Joshua Fannon, said the facts as they stand are far from the truth because the case never went to trial.
"There was a big question as to whether or not Riedel was the one that started the altercation," he said. "Specifically, Riedel and his mouth on the night of the incident and how he was carrying on."
He said Riedel was the one carrying brass knuckles and he provoked the attack.
Bell and the others pleaded no contest because they had some responsibility, and it would have been difficult to make the case in the Valley, which is fairly conservative, Fannon said. It is better to have a misdemeanor on record than risk a felony conviction, he said.
The six men were mostly sentenced to probation and community service, according to court records, though some spent a few days in jail.
But Riedel isn't bitter. Mostly.
ALMOST MADDENING
The fact that Ling -- who did not see jail time -- is deciding to fight the decision in an upcoming civil suit is almost maddening, he said.
Riedel claimed in the interview that Ling is "the one that broke my driver's side window and continued to punch me. ... It just kind of sickens me."
But even now, after he's fully recovered and possibly wealthier, Riedel says he wouldn't have changed a thing about himself during high school. He calls himself "hard-headed," but says people need to fight for their beliefs.
"You got to be yourself," he said. "You don't want to be anyone else."
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
