Attorney for Colerain teen accused of attacking teacher wants judge to order testing of vape

By Karin Johnson

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    COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WLWT) — A Colerain High School student accused of attacking a teacher said he heard echoes and felt like he was in a dream before assaulting her.

Clyde Bennett, the attorney representing the 15-year-old student, said the teen unknowingly ingested a drug when he took hits off of another student’s vape.

“A lot of people smoke vapes and carts, and he was like many other teenagers thinking that, ‘Hey, I’m smoking flavored air,” Bennett said. “They don’t think that they’re ingesting drugs.”

In court on Monday, Bennett asked the judge to order prosecutors to have that vape tested. He said a laboratory analysis of the vape and the teen’s toxicology results — which still aren’t available — are important in determining whether the teen gets tried as an adult.

Prosecutors are trying to get this case bound over to adult court.

“His criminal conduct, if any, was a result of unknowingly ingesting drugs. So, that report is very significant with respect to the second part of the bind over a process to determine whether or not this case could stay in juvenile court,” Bennett said. “You have a law-abiding, productive young man from a great family that unknowingly ingested drugs from smoking a vape and then that triggered an episode of violence.”

Prosecutors say currently there is no evidence to suggest this was anything other than a vicious attack, and it’s fortunate the 60-year-old teacher, who suffered a severe brain injury, even survived.

The judge asked prosecutors to look into whether tests are available to analyze the vape. Another hearing was set for Feb. 26 to discuss that further and to set a date for a bind over hearing.

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