One of the five teenage girls charged in the beating death of a 64-year-old man in Northwest D.C. last year testified Tuesday that they did it because they were bored.
Two of the five girls who were charged in Reggie Brown’s death have pleaded guilty, including Tuesday’s witness for the prosecution. Now 15, she took the stand in the trial of two of the other girls.
Brown, 64, who was disabled, was taking a late-night walk on Georgia Avenue in October when another man attacked him. That’s when the group of girls approached, according to the prosecution.
The witness testified the girls were out looking for someone to beat up.
Testifying under an immunity agreement, the 15-year-old girl said as the five walked up Georgia Avenue, they saw a man beating Brown.
“Mr. Brown was on the ground,” she said. “He was being attacked.”
“By who?” the prosecutor asked.
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“A man,” the girl said. “He was wearing a blue coat. He pushed (Mr. Brown) to the ground. He then walked up to us, and I asked him why he was beating him up.”
“What did he say?” the prosecutor asked.
“I don’t remember what he said,” the girl said. “I asked if we could help. He said yes.”
That man hasn’t been identified.
Contrary to prior testimony in the case, the 15-year-old told the court the man in the blue coat never threatened them if they refused to take part in the beating.
She said they started hitting him, his pants were pulled off, and she kicked him.
Brown told them to stop, then stopped talking, the girl testified.
“I stepped back because I noticed something was wrong,” she said.
The prosecutor played video of the beating one of the girls recorded on her cellphone. It shows the girls stomping on Brown’s head. He appears to be unconscious and bleeding.
“I listened; I watched some and I listened,” one of Brown’s sisters told News4. “From what I heard, they know that boy. They all rejoiced together. A stranger don’t rejoice like that. They rejoiced as friends.”
The 15-year-old testified she does not know who the man in the blue coat is.
That girl was sentenced last week to three years in a secure juvenile detention facility.
During a Tuesday morning motions hearing, the judge revealed a second girl has pleaded guilty in the case, but it’s unclear when that happened and to what charge she pled guilty.
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